Celebrity impersonation fraud is big on the fraud scene. Many people can’t understand how anyone might get exploited through one of these because the person is a public figure, but as usual, the criminals have a clever way to get a connection started. These are not to be confused with Impersonation scams, where criminals pretend to be someone you know or an organisation (such as a bank).
These frauds generally start in the comments section of the real celebrity accounts on social media (Instagram, Facebook, You Tube, TikTok etc). Fraudsters will either clone another account so that it shares the same pictures and bios to look identical to the celebrity they are using, or they will create an account claiming to be the private/personal account of that celebrity. These accounts will then respond to the comments made by fans, expressing gratitude for the lovely comments or loyalty. This can look very real. Sometime soon after this, the fraudster will either direct message or ask the victim to direct message them.
Another way criminals make a connection, is by creating an account (or using a hacked account which can look more genuine) to declare that they are management or part of the professional team for that celebrity. Again, they will look for comments on that celebrities profile and then either respond to the comment, or direct message the victim asking for feedback or declaring that the celebrity has chosen a select few fans from the comments to offer a special meet and greet session for example. There are also occasions, where they will message as a family member.
Sometimes, the criminals can build a very convincing account which can stand alone and have fans come to follow. With paid for verification, hacking accounts with verified ticks has never been easier. Anyone can buy followers (and they do in their thousands) to make accounts appear to be genuine. Live streams can be created with saved videos of the real celebrity. Unsuspecting victims will comment and message as they would on any celebrity profile.
Another thing criminals do, is to join groups or look at pages where people may have a specific interest or a shared journey such as grief, being a widow/widower or an illness or divorce. When this happens, the criminal will already know that there is a vulnerability with the people in those groups. Sadly, this can mean the targets are much more open to making a connection with others.
When the celebrity in question is not on social media, the criminals can claim to use a hidden/anonymous type profile to stop them being harassed.
Once the victim has been contacted, the criminals will continue the fraud with their chosen format, depending on what the intent of the connection is. It is not always money.
One of the formats will have the criminals offer certain packages where the victim can have contact with the celebrity. Much the same as meet and greet packages (which are real), for a fee, they will send VIP passes and membership cards to allow messaging to take place, and future meet ups. The management or family member will at some point, exchange the number or email of the celebrity for them to chat. The criminals will then keep the chat going, building the connection as the celebrity. Voice cloning and deep fake videos can be used to build trust as the criminals move the connection to being romantic. They often, tell the victims that management control the celebrity profiles.
Real ‘meet and greets’ are organised through the venue where the celebrity is performing, if they have chosen to do so. The only contact would be through customer services at that venue. The celebrity nor their management would arrange this through social media or in private messages and chat apps.
The fraud can then continue much like other romance fraud. If the real celebrity is married, the criminals may suggest that a divorce is being kept quiet due to bad publicity and money may be asked for, to help with legal fees to complete the divorce as their accounts have been frozen from the proceedings, or to help with visa type financial costs (which will be a fabrication made by the scammer). On other occasions, the celebrity will claim they have been taken ill or in an accident and in hospital. There will be an excuse of there being a frozen account (maybe due to the divorce) or lapsed insurance (for countries where this is the usual method of payment).
On other occasions, the criminals will say they are sending luxury gifts. This can be things like cars or jewellery amongst other things. This is known as the consignment or package scam. Pictures are sent showing the items packed or prepared for transit. A courier or shipping company will be involved and an employee will contact the victim, sometimes by email but also through the same chat app being used with the main character. Sometimes the website created by the criminals for this purpose (and they can sometimes clone real companies), will allow the victim to track the consignment. Once the delivery has arrived in the country, a message is sent to say that payment for import duties and/or taxes needs paying. Problems will occur and sometimes, daily charges will be made whilst the delivery remains unresolved. The ‘main character’ will also be indignant about the company causing problems. The package or item will never be delivered because it does not exist. The money is extracted for the import duty from the victim. The ‘main character’ will often say that there is also money in the box or in the vehicle for example, to cover the cost of the fees involved.
Sometimes the criminals will plan a future with the victim, not just to meet up, but to buy property together. Lawyers and other individuals will be connected with the victims to purchase the property and pay deposits and legal fees but really the money is being sent to other criminals in the group who are ‘playing the other characters’.
Another format is for the fraudster to not ask for money at all. This will be because the intent of the connection was for other reasons. Large scale criminals need somewhere to launder the money they steal. Victims can be helpful in these scenarios, as unwitting money mules. Following a similar pattern as above, the criminals at some point when trust is secured, may ask the victim if they might open a bank account for the purposes of, for example to accept donations for a new charity campaign. The victim will be told they can be trusted, that maybe the celebrity is having issues with the current management who they don’t feel they can trust now, to do the right thing. It can all seem very feasible as the story will have been cultivated over some time.
There will be many versions of the above scenarios. They will have all the tricks and tools to edit photos and create things to make what they say, appear real. In the world we live in today, phrases like ‘the camera never lies’ are no longer true as photoshopping and AI pave the way to make anything and everything a possibility.