Holly Willoughby has issued a scam warning to her followers.
Posting to Instagram, the This Morning host shared a fake account which was pretending to be her. The false profile claimed to be Holly's "personal account" and was made "just to connect with fans".
But Holly warned people "not to be fooled" as she screenshotted and shared the scammer on her Instagram Stories. She added a sticker with the word "fake" on it and pasted it over the image.
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The mum-of-three wrote: "Please don't be fooled by this... this is not me."
Cyber criminals often pose as celebrities online in a bid to steal their fans personal details or to try to get them to send them money. If you get a direct message out of the blue from a favourite musician, actor or athlete it’s almost certainly a scam.
Scammers reach out to the real star’s followers, asking for money under a variety of pretexts including donations to charity, exclusive tickets to events or big prize giveaways. Impostors often seek targets by trawling comments on a fan page and responding with a personal message supposedly from the star.
Warning signs of a fake celeb profile
- A social media post or direct message from a seemingly celebrity-affiliated account solicits money for a charitable donation or another purpose or promises a big prize if you respond.
- The message asks for payment by gift card, prepaid debit card or wire transfer.
- The account has little activity and few followers.
- The account holder’s name is spelled wrong, like “Jeniffer Lopez,” or has unusual punctuation, such as “Will.Smith.TV.”
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