Beauty and The Beast and Pembrokeshire Murders star Luke Evans has posted a statement on Instagram to warn his fans about a “very dark” scam that is targeting them. The Welsh actor from Pontypool wrote a lengthy message detailing the ‘catfishing’ scam some of his followers had fallen for and stated he “can’t believe I’m having to do this again”.
He said: “Hey guys, Can’t believe I’m having to do this again, but I’ve been made aware, five or six times just today, that 100s [of] my fans are being contacted by scammers pretending to be me or my management asking for money.
“Sadly some of these people, mostly female, have fallen for the catfishing and have lost money. It’s very disturbing. I am stating it here, once again, that I do not contact my fans directly, neither me or my management would ever contact you and ask you for money.
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“Just think twice, PLEASE! before you think about speaking to these people, they just want your money.” He added that he does not speak to fans directly on “Instagram, Facebook or WhatsApp or any other kind of chat groups”, adding: “IT’S A LIE AND THEY ARE SCAMMERS and it’s taking a lot of people down a very dark rabbit hole.”
He concluded his solemn message wit this: “DON’T BE FOOLED. IT’S NOT ME YOU ARE SPEAKING TO.”
These sorts of scams, where a scammer impersonates a celebrity, has seen a surge in the last couple of years and have developed to even include video and voice impersonations – this is known as ‘Deepfakes’, where AI is used to send messages in the voice of the famous figure or even via video.
Amy Nofziger, who leads fraud victim support for the US’ Fraud Watch Network, spoke to NBC and said: “We’ve had celebrity impostor scams for a while, but what the AI can do is really accelerate the level of sophistication and help the criminals pivot really quickly.” Impersonation scams may sound far-fetched, but every day many are losing fortunes to scammers though this method.
“When you’re the victim, and you’re in the moment of it, and your celebrity crush is talking to you and wanting to be a part of your life, all of your cognitive thinking goes out the window.” You can read more on that here.
Luke Evans’ message, which he posted on Friday, September 1, came shortly after he shared a reel that showed a series of videos documenting his time in Paris, which is where, it seems, he is currently. The Welsh actor’s holiday in Paris follows on from an “absolute banger of a trip” in Taiwan (where he has spent several weeks) and while he was out there surprised a special Welsh fan who was living in Taipei in the country and who left him in complete awe.
Sharing a video of him surprising 83-year-old Rowena at a birthday lunch, Luke wrote: “So the other day, I surprised a very special lady called Rowena, she’s Welsh! She is from St David’s in Pembrokeshire, she moved to Taiwan with her husband over 40 years ago to start a school, she never left. She was a huge fan of mine, from afar, even listening to my album on the way to what she thought, was a nice lunch in Taipei.
“Little did she know, that I was going to surprise her with a box of chocolates from Bangkok and a bunch of flowers from Taipei. I spent over an hour chatting to this fascinating lady, and what I left with, was inspiration, to live your life to the full, to take every opportunity that is presented to you, and to see any obstacle as a challenge to overcome.”
He added: “Thank you, Rowena, the surprise was as wonderful for me as it was for you!!!. By the way, Her school is still thriving and she’s still working there! and it has gone from three pupils, 40 years ago, to 360 pupils today. What a legend she is. Happy 83rd birthday to you my darling. I was very happy to bring a little bit of Wales all the way to Taiwan to surprise a very lovely Welsh Lady. Xxx” For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.
If you think you are being targeted by a scam or have fallen victim to fraudsters, contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or at Action Fraud.
