If A Celebrity Sends You A Flirty DM It’s Probably Not Real, Warns Clinton County, Iowa Sheriff’s Office

This one is for the folks on social media.

Scammers are getting creative. So creative in fact that you need to do research if you got a DM from a Netflix star, with or without the blue verified checkmark (remember you can buy those now).

Clinton County Sheriff's Office is warning about those scams after a woman in her 70's in rural Clinton County (identified by the false name 'Lois') commented on a Facebook post that she thought was from the actor, got a DM (direct message) from the account that invited her to communicate on the platform Telegram.

So 'Lois' downloaded Telegram and began chatting with who she thought was the actor, giving him enough information to open a credit card in her name. Then the "actor" told her to go buy Apple gift cards since he said that's how he paid his management. She did, the actor promised to marry 'Lois' and she told her actual husband 'Larry' that she wanted a divorce.

A lot of us see these situations and think we'd know better but scammers, especially with AI, are getting so creative it can be hard to catch.

The thing to remember: real celebrities aren't going to ask you for money. They have enough.

It's not the first such issue in Clinton County lately. The post says that the sheriff's office talked to a 62-year-old woman who thought the guy she was communicating with was the real TikTok creator, John Camo Smith. It wasn't. The scammer wanted her to buy a house with him for them to live in when they got married. This lost her a good chunk of her retirement money.

If you do get a sus DM, flag the account, block it, and never look back.