Reba McEntire Issues Emphatic PSA to Fans: ‘Please Protect Yourself’
Reba McEntire is speaking out against an apparent online scam targeting her social media followers.
Over the weekend, the 69-year-old Grammy winner issued a PSA reminding her fans to proceed with caution when using the internet. The country singer suggested that scammers have been impersonating her online and reaching out to followers to ask for payment via gift cards or electronic transfers in exchange for supposedly meeting the star.
“I and my team will NEVER correspond with you from a direct message or cell phone number asking you for money in order to meet me,” the Nov. 17 announcement shared to her official social media accounts began.
“PLEASE PROTECT YOURSELF ONLINE,” she reiterated, adding, “and do not give out any personal information, purchase gift cards or send money electronically to someone you do not know.”
The short but very serious statement was then signed by The Voice coach and shared across all of her social media accounts, including Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).
Several social media users re-tweeted the “I’m a Survivor” songstress’ post to add their own experience with this type of fraudulent online behavior.
“Sad but true unfortunately. I have had several of those accounts send me DM’s,” one X user wrote, noting that they’ve seen an uptick since Reba released “I Can’t” earlier this year.
“Thank u for this because this is just so heartbreaking for people who actually try doing this to people. Thankfully I always knew that it wasn’t really u. But others may not have so thank u Reba for sharing this!” a second shared.
Another joked, “I knew it wasn’t you though I wouldn’t mind if it was.”
“I wish more celebrities would take the time to do this,” one more wrote on Instagram. “People are getting scammed left, right and [center].”
Along with Reba, NCIS alum Pauley Perrette also found time to address fake social media accounts impersonating her with videos and scamming those who keep up with the star. “I don’t get why anybody wants to impersonate someone else, but what I do get is that this is dangerous. And they are asking people for money. So I’m gonna say it again, y’all: I am not on Facebook,” she said in a post uploaded to Instagram this past July.
Though it’s a wildly different situation, Tom Hanks was also forced to speak out to warn fans not once but twice about promotional videos apparently using AI-generated versions of the star to push products.
All of this is to say as tech gets smarter, so do scammers, which is a scary realization. That’s why we spoke to an expert about the best ways to protect yourself and loved ones from financial scams online.
