[Image: Leonor Official / Facebook]
It’s not just ‘Brad Pitt’ that makes people lose all common sense. Swindlers on TikTok are now making hundreds of euros by impersonating 19-year-old Princess Leonor, the much-loved successor to the Spanish throne.
A recent flood of ‘fake Leonors’ on TikTok has repeatedly been able to defraud vulnerable people in the Hispanic world with dozens of accounts in her name managing to win their trust before tricking them into sending money.
These phoney Leonors from dozens of accounts have amassed a massive following with promises of “financial prizes” and claims that the princess has access to funds to assist those in need. Followers are then subjected to increasing demands for “administrative” fees, taxes, and legal costs.
If the MO sound familiar, it’s because they resemble the most basic of internet scams: “I’m rich, but need you to send me money so I can access our windfall”. It’s stupidly simple, and yet it still works.
Fraudsters have also posed as the princess herself by using AI to clone her voice. Some of the victims will receive a phone call from the Princess, ostensibly to congratulate them on winning a $100,000 lucky draw. ‘Leonore would then urge these poor people to pay all manner of fees, or risk seeing their “prize” go to someone else.
The scammers are fooling more people than we’d consider possible, like Juana Cobo, a 39-year-old mother of two from a remote region of Guatemala, who said “I thought I was talking to Leonor.”
A Spanish princess phoning her to offer money didn’t set any alarm bells ringing, so the poor woman immediately borrowed $800 to send. “They sent me another message on TikTok saying I was talking to Princess Leonor and that I had won $100,000 but I needed to pay a tax of $250 to free up the money.”
Soon after there were “legal fees” to be paid first, and then admin fees. And so it continued until the penny finally dropped.
Some videos posted by the fake Leonors have attracted millions of views, often with gushing comments from people who had supposedly struck it rich by engaging with the Princess.
“Princess you’re incredible!” said one. “It’s a lucky day for me, I won the big prize of $200,000, and it’s now in my bank account.” Another said: “#is genuine … I registered my name in the link and they’ve put $50,000 in my bank account.”
Rigghht…
The scams have increased in number since the Princess turned 18 in 2023 and began to enjoy more time in the spotlight. Princess Leonor has also confirmed that she does not have a TikTok account, and TikTok said it had removed the fake Leonor accounts. Perhaps they missed a few:
Princesses and movie stars don’t want or need your money, but shysters in the Dominican Republic do.
[Source: Sunday Times of London]