Sherri Austin’s Twitter and Facebook accounts were flooded with messages from celebrities including Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Bruno Mars, Kenny Chesney and Blake Shelton.
The 54-year-old New Smyrna Beach resident said at one point, she was convinced she had Shelton’s personal cellphone number.
“When you start thinking you’re talking to these people it makes you nervous,” Austin said. “Yesterday I got a message from Nicholas Cage.”
Austin quickly went from starstruck to skeptical when the Shelton impostor sent her a check from a Texas bank for more than $3,000.
“Being a fan of Blake Shelton, I was supposed to take the check, let it sit in my bank for three hours, cash it and then go donate it to one of his charities," Austin said.
She admitted the whole thing didn’t seem right. Her bank confirmed it was a counterfeit.
“Why are they asking me for money?" she asked.
Austin said someone claiming to be Kid Rock asked her for $50. In fact, every star she was chatting with eventually asked her for money, including the Shelton impersonator.
“He gave me a list of different countries,” she said. “This was supposed to go to a charity in Canada.”
Austin asked him to set up a video chat so she could be sure she was actually talking to Shelton. The best he could do was send a photograph.
Austin realized she was being targeted by an impostor, so she called News 6 to go public with her experience.
"I’m trying to prevent this from happening to someone else,” Austin said. “They play with your emotions, your feelings, but when they start asking you for money, honey, it’s fake."
Shelton recently joined about a dozen stars to record a public service announcement warning fans that they would never ask for money or sell concert tickets.
Refinery 29 recently reported the “fraudulent profiles have been around for years,” with stars like Chris Pratt, Robert Downey Jr. and Chadwick Boseman used as the faces for catfish-style money schemes.
If you feel a celebrity impostor has stolen funds or personal information, file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at: ftc.gov.
Go to the top column on the right, under "take action."
The Better Business Bureau also has a Scam Tracker tool that lists the latest ruses criminals use to trick unsuspecting consumers.
The best defense is the recent implementation of verification checks.
Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat have introduced variations of proof to counter what has become a major problem in the world of social media impersonators.