(WJAR) — As artificial intelligence continues to advance, celebrity imposter scams are becoming even more believable.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, these celebrity imposter scams cost victims a reported $3 billion dollars in losses in 2024 alone.
Bentley University professor and creator of scamicide.com Steve Weisman said that’s why you should never trust a celebrity who’s reaching out to you on social media.
“They either do ads or endorsements, or they even end up building a relationship – romance scams come out of it, or I need help with this emergency,” said Weisman, detailing some of the tactics scammers use.
He continued, “And people believe they’re communicating with the celebrity.”
Weisman said Reese Witherspoon posted a TikTok video, explaining that she wasn’t contacting anyone on social media – it was scammers.
He said you really have to keep your guard up, because artificial intelligence can make anything look legitimate.
“Between deepfakes that can look really perfect and legitimate videos of her that they put on there and manipulate them to make it look like she’s endorsing a product, you really can’t trust your own eyes,” said Weisman.
He said thing you want to look for is the blue check mark.
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If the celebrity reaching out to you doesn’t have a blue check mark next to their name, it’s almost certainly a scammer.