Ray Allen says he was the victim of a catfishing scheme online in which a man posed as several women, and the former NBA star has filed legal documents seeking to make sure the man does not share Allen’s private information with anyone.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Allen says he interacted with whom he believed were women in “various online forums” and shared private information with them during some of their conversations. The documents state that Allen eventually figured out he was being catfished by a man, and he claims the man became obsessed with him and starting posting things on social media about Allen and his family.
Allen says he got the man to sign a confidentiality agreement after he did things like go to Allen’s wife’s restaurant in Orlando and write stuff on social about the two-time NBA champion, even tagging Allen’s family members in the posts. The man allegedly violated the agreement, and now he has filed a restraining order claiming Allen is stalking him.
“Ray Allen was the victim of an online scheme to extract money and embarrass him by someone who appears to be troubled,” David Oscar Markus, Allen’s attorney, said in a statement Tuesday. “The person who perpetrated this scheme has now started to stalk him and make threats against Ray and his family. Ray has taken legal action to put an end to the threats and to expose his manipulation and wrongdoing.
“Ray regrets ever engaging with this person online and is thankful they never met in person. This experience has negatively impacted Ray, and he hopes that others might use his mistake to learn the dangers of communicating online with strangers.”
Allen, the NBA’s all-time leader in 3-pointers made, has been married to his wife Shannon since 2008. The couple has four children together.
Catfishing attempts against well-known athletes are nothing new, and we all remember the most infamous one of them all. Allen should probably take a break from chatting with strangers online.
