They’d been chatting online for weeks when the person behind a “Morgan Wallen” TikTok account said he’d love to meet her in person, but there was one hangup: he needed $500 to fuel his private plane and come to the East Bay.
She wired him the money as requested, but he came up with a suspicious excuse for why the meeting couldn’t take place. It was only then that the woman in her 70s, a Tri-Valley resident, realized the whole thing was a scam, authorities said.
It wasn’t the multi-platinum country singer after all, but a yet-to-be identified scammer who was seeing how much he could squeeze from an unsuspecting victim. Once she confronted him, the case took a much darker turn, authorities said.
Now, the incident is under criminal investigation, not just because the perpetrator posed as the famed country music star, but for the extortion afterwards. After the victim informed the account she knew he was scamming her, he reportedly threatened to expose explicit pictures she’d sent him if she didn’t forward him $10,000, authorities said.
The suspect reportedly reached out to the woman last April, posing as Wallen. In addition to the $500 for jet fuel, he convinced her to send $300 for other miscellaneous favors, authorities said.
Ironically, Wallen is planning a real life trip to the Bay Area soon, when he headlines two early August shows at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.