A Russian woman was left GBP 2,500 out of pocket after scammers convinced her the payment would secure her a meeting with “Barbie” star Ryan Gosling.

The victim from Novocheboksarsk was tricked into handing over RUB 300,000 to the fraudsters, say authorities in Russia’s Chuvashia region.

Officials said she had been contacted by one of the scammers posing as the Canadian actor’s “assistant”.

The individual had told the impressible woman that 42-year-old Gosling wanted to meet her in person.

To secure the meeting – he had told her – she needed to hand over the hefty sum to cover the Golden Globe winner’s travel expenses.

After taking out a large loan and paying the cash, the “assistant” fell quiet, and it quickly dawned on the victim that she had been swindled.

She reported the incident to the police, who are now working to track down the crooks involved.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Chuvash Republic said in a statement obtained by Newsflash on 23rd August: “A fan of a popular Canadian actor from Novocheboksarsk was deceived by scammers.

“An unknown person contacted a member of the fan club of a well-known Canadian actor who played a major role in the film ‘Barbie’, introducing themselves as the star’s assistant.

“The girl was delighted to hear the news that she had become one of the lucky ones from the huge army of fans with whom the actor personally wanted to correspond.

“The trusting individual was not bothered by the fact that the celebrity suddenly showed such a great interest in her that he decided to come to Russia for a personal acquaintance with the fan – at the fan’s expense.

“In total, the victim transferred about 300,000 rubles to her ‘idol’, most of which she took out as a loan. After realising the situation, she understood that she had become a victim of scammers and unsubscribed from the artist’s fan club.

“Based on this incident, a criminal case has been initiated for ‘fraud’ by the Russian Interior Ministry’s Department for the city of Novocheboksarsk.”