MAFS alum Mishel Karen has opened up about being conned out of over $70,000 on a financial trading scam.
The mum of two, and OnlyFans star, told Daily Mail Australia that she was wooed by a fake romance, and handed over $77,000 dollars. Furthermore, she encouraged family members to invest their money too, totalling the loss up to $150,000.
Mishel read fake reviews about a financial trading company, and when she contacted the ‘business’ directly she was encouraged to invest her money.
“‘It was a scam story that wasn’t real,” she told Daily Mail Australia.
“I read the article… but it was a fake story and I didn’t realise.”
Mishel grew suspicious after a few months went by and she hadn’t received any returns. However, when she contacted the company she was reassured by a financial broker named ‘Charles’ who began to woo her.
“They must’ve known who I was, because all of a sudden they gave me a financial broker that became a love interest,” she said.
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“He started wooing me with chocolates and flowers.”
“It just turned into a romance and he was getting more and more money out of me,” she added.
The company reportedly doctored documents to make it look as though Mishel’s profits were soaring. She then encouraged her cousin and parent to invest in the company, who poured in a total of an additional $95,000.
“They have all the shares and you can see them buying and selling, but it’s not real,” she explained.
“He’d say, “Look Mishel, invest this much more because this is for us! This is for our future”.
The MAFS star said that Charles’ interest in her grew quickly, and they formed a romantic connection over whatapp messages and phone calls.
“Maybe I should’ve just known,” she said.
“I just really didn’t know. He kind of had a bit of an English accent but with a twinge of South African.”
Mishel said she released she was a victim of fraud when she attempted to pull out money to pay for pancreatitis treatment. At the time she believed she had $180,000 in her account.
“I wanted to pull out $5,000 [for medical bills] and that’s when the wheels came off,” she said.
Charles told her that she’d only be able to get her money out if she invested more first.
‘The last call I got, they said I could get my money back if I paid an additional $12,000. I just thought, “Oh my god, they don’t stop!”‘
The 48-year-old told the publication that despite losing a lot of money from her own savings, as well as her family’s money, the catfishing was what hurt her the most.
“I feel like a really big dumb dumb, I really do,” she said, adding: “they know the person, they know your weakness and then they start playing on that.”
She continued, “the stupidest thing is that I kinda missed the guy I was having a fake relationship with.”
“I missed him calling me,’ she continued. ‘I have to keep telling myself, “This is not real, Mishel. He didn’t have those feelings.” I don’t know…”
“I just don’t want somebody else to go through this. It’s heartbreaking.”
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