EXCLUSIVE: Scottish Playboy model and former football WAG Stepanie Heaney has revealed men from England are falling for a scam that involves them ‘matching’ on dating apps
Scotland’s oldest Playboy model has revealed her glamorous pictures are being used to scam men on dating apps like Tinder and Hinge.
Stephanie Heaney, who famously once dated Rangers cult hero Nacho Novo, said she was “so sorry” to the people who have been tricked in what she called a “horrible” manipulation that “violates” her privacy.
The Glaswegian mum, 41, has been contacted by men from England who fell for the dupe, and she is now calling on companies to do more to protect users.
One victim sent her a DM warning saying: “Evening, I don’t use Facebook but wanted to reactivate this to drop you a message to say I was speaking with you yesterday on Tinder. They had this name, said you own your own beauty business and then asked a lot about my job and what I earn and whether I can keep up with someone high maintenance.”
However, he was suddenly unmatched when he said he would reactivate Facebook to message her there, before he informed Stephanie that her pictures were being used against her will.
And speaking to the Daily Record, Stephanie, who earlier this year opened up about her ‘unbearable’ illness, revealed three men had reached out to her in the space of a week saying similar things.
They explained how they had been having “very in-depth” and long conversations for several days with an account they wrongly believed was connected to her.
Giving her reaction, she told us: “I was a bit shocked to be honest that these men fell for it. My profile is mostly professional pictures so not the usual type I guess you would see on these dating apps and I really do feel bad for them.
“Obviously men and women are out there looking to meet someone to date and try to find love and they are wasting time on fake profiles. If anyone matches with me on these dating apps I’m so sorry but I have never been on any dating apps or any other apps and I won’t be in the future.
“I think meeting and connecting with someone is more authentic and real in person. However, I do understand that can be difficult for lots of people and it genuinely makes me feel truly bad for them if they have been tricked and scammed online.”
The model, who said it has happened to her before and it was “really upsetting”, has 76,300 followers on Instagram, but she said nobody has the right to use the pictures she posts online.
Stephanie, who signed to Playboy aged 38, has since put a warning on social media asking anyone who sees her name or pictures on Tinder or Hinge to report the profiles.
She added that it was “absolutely crazy” that her pictures could be stolen so easily for such a sinister purpose.
Concluding, she said: “Most people I encounter online are generally lovely people so there are kind decent people in the UK but that small minority do horrible things like scam and manipulate others. These companies should be doing more to stop it.”
In response to claims made in this story, a spokesperson for Tinder said: “Catfishing is a violation of Tinder’s Community Guidelines and Terms of Service, and users who are discovered catfishing are removed from our platform.
“We encourage all users to use our Verification tools, which use a multi-step verification system to help confirm a user is the person in their profile. If violations are detected and flagged, our team will manually review to verify or proactively remove the account.
“We encourage anyone who believes they are being impersonated on the app to contact our support team so we can review and take appropriate actions on the account.
“Additionally, we encourage our users to look for the ‘blue tick’, which indicates that the user’s profile image is genuine and has been verified by Tinder, through our Photo Verification program.”
Hinge was also contacted in regards to claims made in this story.
