Feb 10 2025 17 mins 41
Vicky Pattison talks to author Becky Holmes who has turned the tables on scammers who pretend to be celebrities.
They attempt to contact “Elon Musk” and recreate conversations with “Mick Jagger” and “Keanu Reeves” - all spelling and grammatic errors are the fraudsters own.
If you have been affected by a scam or fraud, there's help available via bbc.co.uk/actionline on the 'Fraud & Scams" page.
Statements from platforms featured:
Instagram say that accounts that impersonate someone else are against their Community Guidelines and they remove them when brought to their attention. They say that they have added extra protections to the user’s genuine Facebook and Instagram accounts designed to tackle account impersonation. They say they don’t allow fraudulent activity and work closely with law enforcement to support investigations.
X(formerly Twitter) say Impersonation is a violation of their rules. They say that you may not misappropriate the identity of individuals, groups, or organizations or use a fake identity to deceive others. They say when they receive an impersonation report, they will investigate the reported account to determine if it violates the X Rules. Accounts determined to be in violation of their Misleading and Deceptive identities policy will either be suspended or asked to update the account(s) so they no longer violate their policies.
Presenter: Vicky Pattison.
Producer: Emma Goswell.
Sounds Producer: Paul Hilton.
Online producer: Rachael Smith.
Producer for You Tube: Paul Gay.
Visualised Podcast Team: Amita Parekh, Ali Ali, Alicia Thursting, Andy Bosley, Chris House, David Kwan, Natasha Peach, Rafael Bujosa, Rob Grieve and The 44d team.
Executive Producer: Kathryn Morrison.
