A RONAN KEATING fan who was catfished on Instagram by a fake Ronan account identical to the Boyzone star’s feed has now had a call from the real deal.
Tanya Jones and her daughters chatted to an apologetic Ronan about the ordeal when he called them from his Magic Radio Breakfast Show this morning.
Tanya, who lives in Shropshire, was shocked to hear the real Ronan address her live on air, initially joking “are you sure you don’t just want my money?”
“I don’t want your money, honey!" Ronan joked in reply.
The mother-of-three was contacted online the fake Ronan Keating account, which takes advantage of fans by asking for a payment in return for a suitcase loaded with $200,000 in cash.
She told Ronan: “He just sent me a follow, so I followed him back and we just got chatting. He tried to say he was you, that he was from Ireland, but obviously he’s not.
"The conversation went very well, and then he said he just wanted some money.”
The real Ronan Keating Instagram account...
The fake Instagram feed was filled with photos taken from Ronan’s verified account to lead unsuspecting victims to fall into the trap.
When asked if she believed she was conversing with the real Ronan, she asserted that she absolutely did not.
Not the real deal...
The catfisher underestimated how big a super fan Tanya was, and as soon as she realised it wasn’t her idol, she began to reply using only with Ronan Keating song titles.
When asked if the scammer caught on, Tanya said “he totally blanked it.”
“It was great to talk to Tanya and I’m really happy that we were able to have a laugh about it," Ronan said after the show.
