Actor Martin Henderson takes a break from filming to warn Kiwis about romance scams using his name. Video / Martin Henderson
Multiple women from around the world have poured money and emotions into a romance scam using the image of former Shortland Street and Virgin River star Martin Henderson
The women have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and dedicated years to the fake relationships
More women have fallen victim to a Martin Henderson romance scam leaving them heartbroken and out of pocket by tens of thousands of dollars.
Four women have contacted the Herald, after watching a video of Henderson last week warning people not to believe the scammers, saying they too had fallen victim to someone pretending to be the well-known Kiwi actor. One says her friend is a victim but still believes she is in a relationship with Henderson.
The Herald recently revealed an American fan of Henderson’s hit Netflix drama Virgin River had lost $375,000 thinking she was in a relationship with Henderson.
Lea had been in daily contact with the person for two years and recently moved to New Zealand to start a life with the former Shortland Street star.
Messages shared with the Herald by Ally show the scammer's manipulation. Photo / Supplied
Henderson, in New Zealand filming season 5 of My Life is Murder, hit out at scammers and urged fans to cease all contact with anyone saying they were him.
Now, another American woman, who wanted to be known only as Ally, has told the Herald she was also in daily contact with the scammer and had been in a relationship with him for a year.
She said the scammer was “the first man I had talked to” after the death of her boyfriend who was the “love of my life” years earlier.
She transferred more than $120,000 through Venmo and Zelle over the year. The scammer told her he needed to buy tickets and make arrangements to be with her without his management knowing.
“I feel like an absolute idiot and can’t believe I have done this,” Ally said.
“My sister would freak out if she knew when I have done.”
Ally said the scammer would message her each morning with promises they would be together soon.
“He was a lovely boyfriend – very attentive – but now I know it was all fake, playing on my emotions. I feel so stupid.”
The messages started on Telegram where the scammer had an account using Henderson’s name – complete with the authentic blue tick.
She has since learned the blue ticks can be doctored.
She only realised the relationship was fake when she watched Henderson’s message in the Herald.
“He also told me he couldn’t be with me in the States because he had an angioplasty surgery booked in New Zealand.”
Fellow American woman Nelly was told Martin couldn’t be with her because he was in hospital after his legs were injured in a “freak accident” when filming in Morocco.
Martin Henderson took a break from filming in Auckland last week to warn fans not to engage with anyone on social media claiming to be him.
“I am speechlessly heartbroken and just need to find out the truth,” the woman said in an email.
Lea was told “Martin” couldn’t be with her because he had a heart attack and was in hospital in Johannesburg.
The scam is similar to one where AI-doctored images of Hollywood actor Brad Pitt in hospital were used to trick a French woman out of $1.5 million.
Another woman based in Britain revealed her friend had also been scammed but still believes she is speaking to the real Henderson.
“I have shown her the articles and tried to convince her but she just gets angry and said she is speaking to the real Martin Henderson – she won’t hear any different.”
Another from Scotland emailed the Herald after realising she had been scammed. She had been sending her ‘Martin’ Apple gift cards. In return she received poetry and photos of Martin’s family in New Zealand.
Lea looks over some of the messages she received from the scammer over a two-year period. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
“I bought Christmas presents and even made artwork for him after the passing of his dog,” the woman said.
“He said to me that he was going to come over to Scotland to buy a house for us both.”
In an interview with the Herald last week, Henderson described the scams as “sad and horrific” and said his heart went out to the women scammed.
“It’s not a nice feeling to know someone has used your face and image and goodwill with fans and manipulated that relationship for something so sinister.”
Anthony Watson of Visa said fraud was one of the most prevalent and fastest-growing crimes, accounting for about 29% of offences.
“As Martin mentioned, scammers are using increasingly sophisticated methods to try to play on people’s emotions and fool you into sending them money.
“It only takes three seconds of audio to clone a voice using AI technology and create deepfake impersonations.”
Watson warned against trusting messages from unknown sources, clicking links in emails or over social media messages and said personal information should never be shared online.
“Information can unfortunately be used to create convincing strategies by threat actors like what we have seen happen in this case.”
Kirsty Wynn is a senior journalist with more than 20 years of experience in Auckland newsrooms. She has covered everything from crime and social issues to property and consumer affairs.
Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
