Don’t let yourself be a victim of social media fraud. As country music fans, it can be so exciting to receive a message on social media from one of your favorite artists. However, some of these ‘artists’ aren’t who they say they are.

The number of fake social media accounts continues to increase as more music artists make their way onto the country scene, and we get follows from fake accounts daily.  While Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter take this very seriously, they simply don’t have the manpower or time to monitor every account created on their platforms.

These scammers do their best to convince people they are the country artist they pretend to be. Some impersonators will go as far as asking for money or gift cards.

Recently, we listened to the episode “The Biggest Scam in Country Music” on Granger Smith’s Podcast where he discusses the topic of fake Instagram accounts in depth. Granger wanted to learn more about who these imposters were so he decided to do his own experiment and create a fake account. Listen to the podcast to hear more about Granger’s fake Instagram account experiment, who they are, and where these scammers are located. See Granger Smith tour dates

After listening to this episode, we realized that there are a lot more people being scammed than we thought. We wanted to share a quick list of ways you can help prevent yourself from being scammed on social media by a fake account.

How to spot a fake social media account

  • No blue check mark – a blue check mark means the account has been verified by the social media platform
  • The account name is spelled wrong and/or has an extra letter or number
  • They send you a message first
  • Broken English or messages don’t make sense
  • The account doesn’t have many followers
  • The account doesn’t have many posts

What to do if you encounter a fake social media account

  • Report the account
  • Don’t give them any of your personal information
  • Block the account

Remember to always look for that blue check mark when engaging with a profile you believe to be is a famous person. Use your best judgment and if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.