Fake celebrity accounts have targeted one in three fans.

The line between fandom and fraud is narrowing. According to a recent ClarityCheck survey of 2,000 adults in the United Kingdom and the United States, 34% reported being contacted by an account impersonating a celebrity or influencer. The trend reflects how admiration for public figures is increasingly exploited by scammers who rely on emotional manipulation rather than technical sophistication.

The survey found that 62% of respondents had seen fake profiles claiming to represent public figures, and 27% admitted they had once believed an impersonator was genuine. Many said the impostors requested personal information, private photos, or money, often under the guise of exclusive access, behind-the-scenes content, or charitable causes supposedly endorsed by the celebrity.

These scams frequently begin with seemingly authentic interactions, a direct message, a personalised video, or a casual comment. They exploit the emotional connection fans feel towards celebrities. Behind these interactions often lies a network of fraudsters mimicking tone, visuals, and language with unsettling precision. The impersonators increasingly rely on stolen imagery, AI-generated content, and spoofed email domains to reinforce credibility.

"Impersonation scams have evolved beyond the crude phishing messages of a decade ago," said Ihor Herasymov, Managing Director of ClarityCheck. "They now mirror tone, language, and visuals so accurately that even digitally literate users can be caught off guard. Image and email verification tools are becoming essential in restoring a sense of digital trust."

Scams linked to celebrity impersonation are often flagged by users following suspicious messages, misleading domain names, or unusual email formats. ClarityCheck survey respondents reported increased interest in digital verification tools as a way to independently confirm identities. In many cases, victims reported feeling ashamed or embarrassed after realizing they had engaged with a fake account, a reaction that often delays reporting and allows scammers to continue operating undetected.

The growing prevalence of parasocial interaction, a one-sided emotional investment in public figures, adds to the risk. 58% of fans said they would be more likely to respond if they believed a celebrity had personally contacted them. This emotional vulnerability is often heightened during moments of public crisis or celebrity visibility, when scammers take advantage of trending topics or news events to lend urgency and plausibility to their messages.

Reported consequences range from financial loss to emotional distress. Users have cited fake charity campaigns, fabricated meet-and-greet events, and digital tokens falsely endorsed by public figures. Some impersonators go further, creating layered deceptions involving fake assistants, event managers, or publicists. In several cases reviewed by ClarityCheck, scammers operated across multiple platforms simultaneously, cloning not just images but also writing styles, hashtags, and comment patterns to build the illusion of authenticity.

"Fans are conditioned to feel intimacy through constant visibility," added Herasymov. "Verification is not about scepticism, it’s about self-protection in a space that thrives on blurred boundaries."

ClarityCheck enables users to verify suspicious contacts through image and email lookups that detect links to authentic digital identities. These lookups help flag inconsistencies in profile metadata, source imagery, and associated accounts. As fan interactions increasingly move to private or encrypted channels, the need for independent verification becomes more urgent.

As celebrity culture continues to converge with personal interaction, verifying identity is becoming inseparable from digital engagement. For fans, the ability to distinguish authenticity from deception may now be as vital as the act of following itself. The illusion of closeness that once defined fandom is being reshaped by the demands of digital self-defence, a shift that is not just technological, but cultural.

About ClarityCheck:
ClarityCheck is an all-in-one background verification tool for phone numbers, emails, and images. Designed for everyday digital safety, ClarityCheck helps users instantly identify unknown contacts, trace suspicious profiles, and check for potential fraud across phone, email, and photo input. By combining reverse lookup and OSINT technologies, it offers a streamlined way to verify identities and protect yourself online.

Media Contact:
ClarityCheck
pr@claritycheck.com
Lauren Fellows
PR Manager