Staying Fit
Celebrities often flood our social media with their presence, sharing snippets of their lives and careers. But if you get a direct message out of the blue from a favorite musician, actor or athlete, don’t get starry-eyed — get skeptical. It’s almost certainly a scam.
Here’s what to know.
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How It Works
- You follow your favorite celebrity on their social media accounts and post messages.
- One day, your post elicits a response from the celebrity or someone representing them!
- They may tell you that superfans like you can get special access to the celebrity or to a meetup, or that they are fundraising for their favorite charity.
What You Should Know
- The special attention you get as a fan is most likely not from your favorite celeb, but rather a criminal impersonating them or someone close to them.
- The reasons for reaching out may vary, but the end goal is the same – they want to steal your money by convincing you of something that is untrue and then providing instructions on how to send money.
- The method of collecting funds will likely be something unusual, like buying gift cards and sharing the numbers off the back, or taking cash to a cryptocurrency ATM and sending it that way.
What You Should Do
- Have fun following your favorite celebrities on social media, but know that posting to those accounts could result in a fraud attempt against you.
- Be aware that scam criminals use our emotions against us; in the case of connecting us to our favorite celeb, it’s excitement. These emotions make it hard for us to access logical thinking.
- Anytime a contact puts you into a state of high emotion – excitement or panic, for example —let that be your signal that it’s likely a scam and to disengage.
- Report online celebrity impersonators to the social media host.
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