Texas Woman Thought She Was Talking to Leonardo DiCaprio, Scammed Out of $800,000
This is more heartbreaking than Leo dying at the end of 'Titanic'.
I will never stop writing these stories every time they pop up because they fascinate me. You mean to tell me you believe an A list of the A list type of celebrity somehow found you and wants to be with you? A woman who wants her identity to remain private and for good reason. I wouldn't want anyone to know I fell for this. She goes by Denise in the story.
She claims back in 2018, Leonardo DiCaprio contacted her on Twitter. The two began a friendship. Exchanging emails, letters, and even some phone calls. The fake Leo was aware of the real Leo's whereabouts. Talking about how things were going on the set of "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", which was shooting at the start of this friendship.
After awhile though, the fake Leo needed some help. He claimed that he owed the Church of Scientology $750,000. At this point I would have been like, damn Leo sucks to be you. This woman out of Houston though, fell for it hook, line, and sinker. She believed the letter which had an official letterhead from the Church of Scientology. So she started wire transferring money to help.
Now did go to anyone named Leo? Nope. The first payment was $6,000 to someone named Kenneth in Georgia. Alright, $6,000 is bad and I wish it ended there, but this lady just kept sending money. In 2018, she had sent six total wire transfers which added up to $256,000. Holy crap!
Come on lady, Leo makes good money with his movies. He can pay off the rest. You paid off a 1/3 of this freaking owed payment to the Church of Scientology. In 2019, she started sending cashiers checks to someone in New Jersey. These were around $70,000. "Leo" claimed his "associates" never got the checks. Denise's bank said someone cashed those checks. She sent more anyway! "Leo" claimed someone with the church must have intercepted the money. Oh my God lady how do you not see this is a scam?!
Here is where I stop feeling bad for her. "Leo" then claims the church is stealing this money from him. I thought he owed the church the money? Anyway, "Leo" now needs to be paid in Apple products. That's right, send him iPhones and Apple watches. She also sent more money for "wildlife conservation", which the real Leo is a big advocate for.
At the end of 2019, she estimates she has sent over $620,000, by 2020 it was around $813,000. Denise EVENTUALLY got in contact with the FBI to investigate after the "Church of Scientology" began threatening Denise and "Leo". They're still investigating and hopefully they find who did this. I doubt this woman is getting her money back, but hopefully someone faces some jail time.
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