Singer Daniel O’Donnell says scammers posing as him online in order to steal money are "so convincing" and has told fans he will "never ask you for money".
The 63-year-old recently saw a fake Facebook account pretending to be him replying to comments on his official page asking fans to contact him privately.
Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he said: "I stress so often, I make videos saying I will not contact you, I will never ask you for money.
"I don’t charge for meet and greets because I meet people after every show, I don’t charge to send somebody a video.
"So there’s no reason at any time other than getting a ticket to come and see a concert or buy a record, that’s even gone now, or a CD, there’s no other time when you have to pay any money, certainly not directly to me.
"I put up videos saying, do not engage with people on Facebook, because it will not be me, and still people get caught."
'Its so convincing'
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) December 19, 2024
Daniel O'Donnell is warning fans of a Christmas scam that has been circulating, where fraudsters are impersonating him and promoting fake offers.
These scams falsely claim to offer exclusive Christmas packages and meet-and-greet opportunities. pic.twitter.com/DwzcZfLgx1
He explained that a real-life friend of his had been targeted by the scam.
O'Donnell shared: "A friend of mine who’s a nun… the guards got in touch with us. I sent a WhatsApp to her, she had already given [the scammer] money on an Apple Pay card.
"It was that I was going to come to visit on Friday and that I needed money to get the ticket, it’s crazy."
The Irish star revealed that after announcing his appearance on the show via social media, a fake account impersonating him commented on his post, thanking fans for their support and urging them to message it.
He said: "It’s unfortunate, and they’re so convincing and they seem to be able to use the right words.
"But when you, if you read that, 'Thank you for your love and support,’ I would never start a sentence like that, and on the thing last night it has no relation to what the message is.
"It doesn’t connect with what has been said, because it was, ‘We’re coming on to talk about scams,’ and then you’re saying ‘Thank you for your love and support,’ there’s no connection between the two messages."
Presenter Richard Madeley, who has also been impersonated by scammers, pointed out that the fake O’Donnell account was missing an apostrophe and only had one friend. However, O’Donnell admitted even he "would not know about that" and could have been fooled.
Cybersecurity expert Jake Moore, who joined O’Donnell on the show, urged fans to report fake accounts to Facebook, saying this "really does help."
He advised: "Stick to official channels. If there was a genuine meet and greet with Daniel or any celebrity, it would be on their website, it would be up in lights, it would be a big thing.
"So keep on the official website, but also the official fan page, and it will be authenticated with a tick, now that’s not a fake emoji tick, so make sure you’re looking at the real blue and white one, and then you can trust that if that’s there.
"And it will have loads of followers, it won’t just be made in the last few days or so."
Source: Press Association
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