Celebrity scams, where scammers get people to invest in fraudulent schemes by falsely claiming that leading celebrities endorse a product, have been a big menace and millions of dollars are being lost to such scams every year. Some go to the trouble of hacking celebrity social media pages while others make fake advertisements with the power of artificial intelligence (AI).

With the growing adoption of AI, celebrity scams can also be expected to increase as scammers use AI to impersonate leading celebrities through deep fake videos. Here are the leading celebrities who were targeted in such scams and how one can stay safe from getting scammed.

What Are Celebrity Scams?

Topping the list of celebrity scams per the data from Action Fraud is Martin Lewis of Money Saving Expert who featured in 1,151 scams which is almost a third of the total reported cases. Ironically, Lewis has been campaigning against these scams and lobbied to get scam advertisements covered under the Online Safety Act.

The next on the list was Taylor Swift who was reported in 21.7% of the scams while Tesla CEO Elon Musk was third on the list.

celebrity fraud list

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Separately, NatWest’s annual Celebrity Scam Super League table for this year showed that Martin Lewis topped the list followed by Musk and Jennifer Aniston.

In its report, NatWest said that in recent years fraudsters have moved away from using daytime television celebrities. The report added, “However, celebrity images continue to be used by criminals on a regular basis and remain a significant problem. Scam ads often appear on social media, with Facebook and Twitter mentioned in many cases.”

Scammers Stole £20 Million Through Impersonating Lewis

Celebrity scams are growing bigger and just one individual lost £500,000 in a scam featuring Lewis. Money Saving Expert estimates that victims have reported losing over £20 million in the last two years due to scams where Lewis was impersonated. It’s worth noting that these numbers are based on the complaints made to the police so it’s quite likely that the actual number of frauds and their dollar volumes are drastically higher as many people don’t report them.

According to Lewis, “It’s likely that the criminals pumping out these scam ads effectively use their own in-house dark-web digital marketing teams, researching which celebrities and advert types get the best click through rates, and honing the way they work to be able to attract more victims.”

He added that scammers collect data on how much power different celebrities and public figures have to draw people, as well as on the number of people who respond to an advertisement featuring them.

How do Celebrity Scams Work?

Celebrity scams capitalize on the trust that followers and fans have in their favorite celebrities and can be in multiple forms as listed below.

  • Fake endorsements: Scammers impersonate a celebrity to show that they are backing or promoting a product – especially investment schemes. Some followers end up buying the product assuming it is being endorsed by the celebrity while in reality, it could be a fake or pump-and-dump scheme where they end up losing money.
  • Soliciting donations: A lot of celebrities do philanthropic work and are associated with more than one charitable organization. To scam charitable people, scamsters pretend that they work for a charity to collect money by using the celebrity’s name.
  • Fake ticket scams: At times, scammers try to bank on a celebrity’s popularity and sell fake tickets to their events. For instance, “Swifties” have lost millions in buying fake tickets for Taylor Swift’s events. A common variant of this scam is where scammers sell fake autographs or personal assets of celebrities which might never even arrive.
  • Phishing scams: In phishing scams, impersonators try and steal your money and personal data by capitalizing on a celebrity’s popularity. They may send users emails or set up fake websites to steal data including credit card information.

Many People Are Conned in Celebrity Scams

Among these, fake endorsements for investment products seem to be the most dangerous. In a June 2024 report, Stuart Skinner, who leads the fraud prevention team at NatWest said that 13% of consumers have lost money to fraudsters in the past 12 months.

He added, “Criminals are increasingly using images of famous people who have been successful in business or are well known for giving advice on money to steal millions of pounds.” Skinner advised, “We’d urge people to be wary of fake celebrity investment adverts or if contacted by someone saying they are a celebrity.”

The NatWest report cited data from UK Finance and said in 2023, £1.3 billion was stolen from consumers through fraud.

While AI has multiple benefits it is also been a good tool for scammers, and as Warren Buffett famously said at this year’s Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting in May AI scams could be “the growth industry of all time.”

How to Protect Yourself from Celebrity Scams

If you know what to look out for, you can avoid pretty much every kind of scam. Here’s how you keep yourself safe:

  • Be wary of adverts from celebrities in the top 20 list of scammers: It would be prudent to be wary of any advert that features a celebrity who scammers frequently impersonate. According to Lewis, “If someone is on this list, they’re likely tried and tested by scammers, and therefore will keep reappearing.”
  • Know your celebrities well: Fans should know their celebrities well. For instance, adverts made a false claim about Sir David Attenborough making £125,000 a month from investments in natural gas, oil, and gold. However, Attenborough is a green energy enthusiast and claims of him investing in fossil fuels should raise an alarm. Similarly, according to Lewis any advert featuring him is a fraud as he never does an advert.
  • Check the scheme credentials: If the advert seems too good to be true and promises super high returns, it could easily be fake. Users should especially be wary of scams related to cryptocurrencies. While cryptocurrencies are establishing themselves as a legit asset class with increasing adoption, they are also prone to scams.
  • Check the profile of the user: if you see an advert on social media platforms double check if the post is coming from a celebrity’s official account as often scammers use similar-sounding accounts. Thanks to X’s policy on paid verified accounts, scammers could get the blue tick verification by paying a few dollars. Furthermore, it could be a case where a celebrity’s account could get hacked by a scammer who can then use it for fake endorsements on their behalf.

Follow Basic Online Hygiene and Don’t be Shy to Report Fraud

Also, as a basic online hygiene don’t click on any unverified links and never provide your personal information. It would also be prudent to speak with others about an investment scheme you might find attractive. Remember the old adage, “If something seems too good to be true, it probably is not.”

Keeping your nerve and not acting immediately on an investment seemingly promoted by a celebrity could prevent you from celebrity scams and help you save your hard-earned money. Finally, if you have been scammed, the first thing that you should do is to report it to your bank as well as appropriate law enforcement agencies. This would not only increase the likelihood of you getting back your money but also help others from falling for these scams.