Certainly one of Ritchie Blackmore‘s former classmates has been scammed out of virtually $184,000 by somebody pretending to be the previous Deep Purple cofounder.

Valerie Horwood, a terminally unwell most cancers affected person, was conned into sending a sequence of Apple present playing cards over a interval of three years. The pretend Blackmore linked with Horwood by means of Fb then started requesting cash for pretend investments by means of messaging apps. The present playing cards might be redeemed at many shops and supermarkets.

“My mum shouldn’t be a silly previous girl,” Horwood’s daughter Debbie advised The Solar. “She could be very streetwise and really switched on. She was most likely fairly lonely. She was having fun with the chats that they had been having. It’s fairly heartbreaking that she was sucked in.”

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The con was solely found when Horwood was pressured to ask her household for cash as a way to pay payments. Her apprehensive daughter accessed Horwood’s checking account solely to find that her life financial savings had vanished.

“She was pulled right into a false sense of safety considering she had this actually good pal who was a well-known particular person,” Debbie mentioned. “She actually didn’t imagine us once we advised her that it was a rip-off.”

As Horwood’s monetary scenario worsened, the 81-year-old Fleet, Hampshire, resident turned so distraught that she reportedly tried suicide. “Her world simply utterly fell aside,” Debbie added. “She could not comprehend what had occurred. It’s a laborious factor to tackle that you’ve got simply given your whole cash away to a scammer.”

The case is now beneath investigation by native police within the U.Ok. Within the meantime, a fundraising web page has been launched to assist restore Horwood’s life financial savings. She is affected by most cancers of the pancreas, liver and spleen.

“We’re combating for justice for my mum and to recoup her cash in order that she will resolve what she desires to do with it in her time left,” Debbie mentioned. “My mum might must go to a nursing house quickly and that is what she may very well be utilizing her cash for – not for some scammers to go and purchase a Rolex watch or a wise automotive.”