A camera crew and tourists have been spotted following the wrong Jeff Bezos in Venice yesterday.
As the billionaire gears up to wed his 55-year-old bride, Lauren Sanchez, in Venice today, holidaymakers in the popular destination are keeping their eyes peeled for celebrity sightings.
With hundreds of A-Listers, including Oprah Winfrey, Kim Kardashian, and Orlando Bloom, all in the same location, the chances are higher than usual.
One group thought they lucked out by seeing the Amazon boss, 61, in the flesh while roaming the streets of Venice.
Tourists and camera crew followed the man who shares a similar appearance to Jeff, thanks to his shaved head and comparable figure.
A man from Denmark, who goes by @danishtransporter on TikTok, shared the 'sighting' to social media with the caption, 'Jeff Bezos Venice wedding.'
However, it's been revealed that the man is Cagdas Halicilar, a known look-alike who last year quit his job to pursue a career as a Bezos doppelgänger - and has since secured a role in a Netflix show.
Dozens of tourists visiting the Floating City's landmarks have flocked to Halicilar in the streets - and he doesn't always care to tell them he's not the billionaire.
A TikTok user, who goes by @thedanishtraveller, was among the tourists who thought they'd spotted Jeff Bezos in Venice - but it turned out to be a look-alike (pictured)
'I don't talk too much, I take pictures with everyone, thank them and then leave,' he said.
Some immediately go for a selfie with the man, while others stand at a distance, trying to figure if he's the real deal with some searching photos of Bezos on their phones to compare.
However, viewers in the comment section of the tourist's clip quickly gave him a dose of reality in the comment section. One said, 'Jeff Bezos from Shein.' 'That's a lookalike,' another commented with a series of laughing face emojis.
Another entertained viewer commented, 'Bezos [from] Ali Express,' with laughing emojis.
Elsewhere, Herminia Solano, a tourist from Mexico, said she knew Halicilar was only a look-alike but wanted a picture with him anyway. 'I know he is not the real one but it is exciting to find him,' she said.
Halicilar said he had a wedding present - a 30-year-old whiskey - for Bezos and Sanchez and hoped to deliver it to them at their hotel, Aman Venice, adding that the local protests against the wedding were 'irrelevant' to him.
He said, 'I was very welcome here in Venice. As you can see, I can move around completely as Bezos without anything happening.'
Halicilar is renowned for his striking resemblance to billionaire Bezos, and now often finds himself traveling on extravagant cruises while constantly being approached for selfies by strangers.
Dozens of tourists followed the look-alike, called Cagdas Halicilar, believing him to be the Amazon founder
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez (seen at the amFAR gala in May) will tie the knot in a lavish ceremony today
Three years ago, he made the decision to establish his own transportation company, CB Transporte, after he grew tired of the grueling hours on construction sites.
After a friend showed him a picture of Bezos and highlighted their similarities, Halicilar started emulating the Amazon founder's bald look.
'When I became an entrepreneur, my friends and acquaintances said to me that I looked like a billionaire,' he told What's the Jam.
Halicilar said he always dreamed of becoming a businessman. Like Bezos, who famously left his job at a hedge fund to establish Amazon in the 1990s, Halicilar made the bold decision to quit and become self-employed.
Upon a friend's suggestion, Halicilar began shaving his head and signed up to a doppelgänger agency.
'Because Jeff Bezos also dresses casually, it doesn't matter whether I'm wearing a suit or wearing jeans and a polo shirt.'
'The only thing I do is shave my head and regularly apply Nivea cream. But I have already been doing this for over ten years now.'
Within three years, he found himself appearing on a Netflix show and at local events, enjoying a lavish lifestyle as a doppelgänger.
'I look like his twin brother,' he said. 'When I see the photos of his brother Marc Bezos there is no resemblance at all between.'
'My right eye gets smaller in the sunlight just like his. But I have to admit that no one has flirted with me yet because I look like Jeff Bezos,' he said, jokingly.
'My partner sometimes gets annoyed when people come to me and want selfies,' he added. 'Many don't dare speak to me.'
During a trip to Seattle in 2023, Halicilar recounted how Amazon employees flocked to him for selfie requests.
'When I was in Seattle with my friends, we walked through the Amazon campus. All the Amazon employees came to me, wanted selfies and thanked me for being proud to work at Amazon.'
He has also made appearances on multiple local TV shows and even landed a guest spot on the German Netflix mini-series, 'King of Stonks.'
Meanwhile, social media posts featuring the Bezos lookalike capture him posing at picturesque locations worldwide and indulging in lavish meals aboard cruises.
He said, 'My wish is to drink a whiskey with Jeff Bezos on his yacht -- he is just as much of a yacht fanatic as I am.'
Yesterday, Lauren and Jeff's A-list guests like Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner were forced to take cover as the couple’s pre-wedding party was hit by a huge freak thunderstorm.
The lavish event held at the Madonna dell Orto cloisters marked the start of the billionaire couple’s lavish three-day wedding in Venice, Italy, which will come to a close on Saturday.
However, Thursday night’s star-studded soiree was brought to an early end due to the intense downpour.
Guests dived for cover under the vaulted cloisters as lightening bolts flashed across the sky and thunder rumbled overhead at the end of what was a torridly humid day with temperatures nudging 96.8° Fahrenheit.
Torrential downpours and a strong wind left guests soaked as they then dashed for water taxis which had been scrambled a good 45 minutes ahead of the midnight finish time.
The strong gusts of winds whipped table cloths away and sent waiters scurrying for umbrellas to protect the VIP attendees.
One onlooker said, 'It just goes to show you can have all the money in the world but you cant control the weather - although an Italian saying says a wet bride is a happy and lucky bride.'