ZapGossip

Fake Prince Harry cons workman out of £23k


A fraudster has conned a man out of £23,000 after he posed as Britain’s Prince Harry on Facebook.

The conman promised a workman a multi-million pound contract to renovate the parquet floors at Buckingham Palace in London.

As part of the deal, he told the floorfitter, who is from Austria, to transfer £23,000 into several UK bank accounts, claiming it was a ‘necessary’ step in order to set up a British business.

However, after transferring the money and not hearing back from the online account with the username Prince Harry, the workman contacted the Austrian police on Friday (14.03.14).

The victim paid €2,500 into a Lloyds TSB bank account, before being told to pay a "security deposit" of €22,000 and then a final installment of €3,000.

The authorities in Burgenland, Austria, have since told the man that his chances of recovering his money are very "slim".

Meanwhile, this isn’t the first time the 30-year-old royal has fallen victim to identity theft as in 2010 another conman posed as the flame-haired Prince and tricked 20 woman into transferring money into a West Africa bank account..

The conman asked the ladies, from the US, to donate cash, claiming the money was going to a charity working with orphans in Africa.