Scammer posing as WWE superstar tricks 73-year-old man out of $1,000,000-Alistair McGeorge-Entertainment – Metro

A scammer posing as Alexa Bliss tricked a man out of a fortune (Picture: Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images)

An imposter posing as WWE superstar Alexa Bliss swindled an elderly man out of almost $1 million.

The 73-year-old man believed he and the 33-year-old wrestler were in a romantic relationship, and lost his retirement savings as well as a chunk of his granddaughter’s college fund to the fraudster.

His son Chris Mancinelli has opened up about the devastating situation, explaining that his dad – who died last year – had a history of ‘opening his heart’ to scammers.

An account posing as the former women’s champion conned him out of a heartbreaking amount of money, as he lost around $770,000 during the pandemic.

His retirement savings plummeted from around $900,000 to $130,000, with most of that believed to be going to the fake Bliss, who he never spoke to via phone or video.

As reported by the New York Times, the imposter – using the name ‘Lexi’ – told their victim fictional stories about the wrestler’s life behind the scenes.

Bliss is one of WWE’s top superstars (Picture: WWE)

At one point, they claimed ‘Bliss’ had been hospitalised with menstrual periods, before asking for help with expenses.

Chris tried to help his father by transferring the remaining $100,000 into a separate account, but he was sued by his dad and ordered to return the money, which vanished months later.

He told the outlet: ‘There was nothing we could do to convince him.’

Alfred died in 2023 following a neck operation after a fall, but his son thinks his father’s correspondence with ‘Lexi’ would have continued.

Bliss is married to Ryan Cabrera (Picture: Maury Phillips/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

‘If he didn’t pass, he would have kept going,’ he added.

Bliss – who is married to singer Ryan Cabrera – has previously warned fans about fake social media profiles set up to scam them out of money.

In a video on X, she said: ‘I hate that I have to keep saying this, but I will say it over and over again. Y’all, I have one TikTok, one twitter and one Instagram and they are all the ones with the checkmarks on them.

‘I don’t have “personal pages”, and I don’t have “messaging apps”. So, anyone that thinks they are talking to me on any of those, I promise you one thousand percent, you are not.’

She pointed out she’d never ask her fans for cash, and noted some people have even been convinced they are ‘dating’ Alexa after chatting to a scammer.

Bliss has also been forced to deal with vile social media abuse over the years, and she urged people to be more mindful of the ‘person behind the character’.

She exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘I feel like a lot of people don’t really understand – nine times out of 10 when you see us performing, we are going on no sleep, we are going on beat up bodies because we do travel four, five, six days a week.

‘We are emotionally exhausted, we are mentally exhausted, we are physically exhausted but we are doing it to entertain everyone else.’

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

Entertainment – MetroRead More