A British mum has revealed how she lost £33,000 after becoming convinced she was in a secret relationship with Hollywood star Bradley Cooper.
Lorraine Moorhouse says what started with a harmless Facebook comment eventually became a two-year romance with somebody she believed was the A Star Is Born actor.
The 49-year-old from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, exchanged messages with the person almost every day. They talked about their families, discussed a future together and eventually made plans to meet.
But there was one major problem.
The man Lorraine had fallen for wasn’t Bradley Cooper.
And by the time she discovered the truth, she says she had handed over thousands of pounds, shared sensitive personal information and been forced to sell her car.
It Started With A Facebook Comment
The extraordinary situation began after Lorraine came across a Facebook fan page dedicated to Cooper.
She left a comment describing the actor as “so good-looking”.
Not long afterwards, a private message arrived from an account claiming to belong to Cooper himself.
Lorraine was understandably surprised.
Why would one of Hollywood’s biggest actors suddenly be messaging a mum from Wiltshire?
The person apparently had an explanation ready. Lorraine says she was told Cooper’s management had allowed him to privately contact a small number of fans.
What could have ended as a brief exchange instead became a regular conversation.
The pair began messaging frequently and the discussions gradually became more personal.
Lorraine said: “He talked to me about his family. It seemed like there were so many differences between us, but stripped down, I believed we were just two lonely, single parents who were looking for love.”
That feeling became central to the deception.
Rather than constantly presenting himself as a glamorous Hollywood celebrity, the person Lorraine was talking to apparently behaved like an ordinary single dad.
She began to believe the connection was real.
There Was Always A Reason They Couldn’t Video Call
As the relationship developed, Lorraine encountered something that would eventually become one of the biggest warning signs.
They couldn’t speak on the phone.
They couldn’t video call either.
According to Lorraine, the person told her that “security policies” prevented those forms of communication.
There was another condition: the relationship needed to remain secret.
Lorraine says she was warned that if news of their romance emerged, paparazzi could begin following her.
It helped isolate her from the people who might otherwise have questioned what was happening.
Lorraine now believes things could have turned out very differently if she had told friends about the supposed relationship.
She did have doubts herself.
“I had doubts because it seemed so unreal – why would he be interested in me?” she said.
But whenever those suspicions surfaced, the person on the other end apparently found a way to keep her convinced.
Then came something Lorraine thought settled the matter.
The Fake ‘Bradley Cooper’ Sent Her A Passport
Lorraine says the person sent her an image that appeared to show Bradley Cooper’s passport.
To her, it looked like proof that the extraordinary story was genuine.
“He said he could prove he was telling the truth, which is when he sent me the passport, which I believed,” she recalled.
From there, the relationship continued.
Weeks became months and the person she believed was Cooper became a regular part of her life.
Then money entered the conversation.
Lorraine says the supposed actor claimed he was involved in a confidential legal dispute and couldn’t access his fortune because his money was tied up in property.
Despite the real Cooper being a hugely successful actor and filmmaker, the story appeared plausible to Lorraine after the trust that had been built between them.
She initially sent approximately £4,000.
It didn’t stop there.
Further payments followed and Lorraine says enough personal information was also obtained to allow loans to be taken out using her identity.
She had provided details including her address and banking information because she thought arrangements were being made for her to meet an internationally famous actor.
“I’d given him all my details – bank account, home address – because I thought I was meeting a VIP,” she said.
Eventually, Lorraine estimates her losses reached around £33,000.
“I was forced to sell my car to make ends meet,” she added.
But the moment that finally exposed everything was still to come.
Her Children Waited For Bradley Cooper To Arrive
After roughly two years of messages, Lorraine thought she was finally going to meet the man she had fallen in love with.
The supposed Cooper told her he was travelling to Wiltshire.
Even more excitingly, he was apparently going to meet Lorraine’s children before taking the family on a trip to Center Parcs.
Lorraine believed the plan was real.
She told her children: “Bradley Cooper’s going to take us away.”
Her children knew exactly who the actor was. They had also heard their mum speaking about him during the relationship.
So the family waited.
And waited.
Throughout the day, messages reportedly continued arriving.
The explanation was that “Cooper” had been delayed.
Lorraine remembers receiving messages saying he was “stuck in traffic”.
Hours passed.
By 10pm, nobody had arrived.
“I’ll never forget the terrible sinking feeling as we waited and waited until 10pm,” Lorraine said.
It was finally becoming impossible to ignore what had happened.
There was no Hollywood actor travelling to Wiltshire.
There was no secret celebrity relationship.
Lorraine had been speaking to a scammer.
‘I Cried Myself To Sleep’
The realisation was devastating.
“I cried myself to sleep,” Lorraine said.
“I was in tears and so angry. It was a shock to the system.”
The failed meeting came around Christmas, making the financial consequences particularly painful.
Lorraine says she had lost so much money that she ended up giving her children beans on toast for Christmas dinner.
“I had to apologise to my children for ruining Christmas,” she said. “I felt so foolish.”
Her embarrassment also meant she didn’t immediately report what had happened.
Lorraine says it took two years before she eventually came forward because she felt ashamed about having fallen for the deception.
Her case was later referred to Action Fraud.
She understands that nobody has been convicted in connection with what happened.
There is absolutely no suggestion that the real Bradley Cooper was involved in the scam. His identity and public image were allegedly used by someone pretending to be him online.
The Relationship Had Felt Real
Looking back, perhaps the most striking part of Lorraine’s story is how long the deception continued.
This wasn’t simply an account appearing online and immediately asking her to transfer thousands of pounds.
The person spent an extended period building trust.
There were daily conversations, discussions about family life and promises about a future together.
Lorraine believed she had developed a genuine emotional relationship with the person behind the messages.
That is what eventually made the requests for money believable.
Celebrity impersonation scams can exploit photographs and information already available publicly, allowing fraudsters to construct apparently convincing identities.
Refusing video calls, demanding secrecy, repeatedly finding reasons not to meet and eventually encountering a sudden financial emergency can all be major warning signs.
For Lorraine, those signs only became obvious once the relationship unravelled.
She is now speaking publicly about the experience in the hope that someone else might recognise them sooner.
Because while the £33,000 loss was devastating, the scam had gone much further than money.
For two years, Lorraine believed she had found a partner.
She talked to him about their lives, imagined a future together and eventually told her children they were about to meet him.
It took an entire day waiting for Bradley Cooper to arrive before she finally discovered the truth.
He was never coming.
