Considered 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 in poor health most cancers affected person, was conned into sending a collection of Apple reward playing cards over a interval of three years. The faux Blackmore linked with Horwood by way of Fb then started requesting cash for faux investments by way of messaging apps. The reward playing cards could be redeemed at many stores and supermarkets.

“My mum shouldn’t be a silly outdated woman,” Horwood’s daughter Debbie instructed The Solar. “She may be very streetwise and really switched on. She was in all probability fairly lonely. She was having fun with the chats that they have 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 frightened 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 consider us once we instructed her that it was a rip-off.”

As Horwood’s monetary state of affairs worsened, the 81-year-old Fleet, Hampshire, resident grew to become 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 simply given your whole cash away to a scammer.”

The case is now below 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 needs to do with it in her time left,” Debbie mentioned. “My mum could must go to a nursing house quickly and that is what she might be utilizing her cash for – not for some scammers to go and purchase a Rolex watch or a wise automobile.”