It sounds like something that would belong on MTV's Catfish more than KPRC 2, but the station reported its own chief meteorologist Frank Billingsley's image was used by a scammer to steal a woman's life savings.
Here is more from channel 2's report:
She dreamed of a future with Gold and his young son, Richard, which included the promise of a luxury home in the Houston area, along with millions of dollars.
“He got paid for his job and it's over $4 million," Jean said. "He wanted to put it in my account just in case something happened to him that me and Richard, his son,would be taken care of.”
The truth is, the man claiming to be David Gold is a fraud. David Gold doesn't exist and neither does his son Richard.
There's a Houston twist to this scam, which caught everyone at KPRC off guard.
The man claiming to be David Gold is actually a scammer using our Frank Billingsley's photos to create a fake online identity.
Jean's son actually helped unravel the scam by doing a reverse image search of Billingsley's picture, which had been sent to Jean by the scammer. One of the many images the scammer had sent to Jean was Billingsley's professional KPRC headshot.
“Once I saw the news reporter -- the weatherman -- I couldn't believe it," Jean's son said. "I ran downstairs with my laptop and showed my mom. I was like, 'Look mom, this is the guy you've been talking to and it's been faked the whole time.'” READ THE REST
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