One of Strictly Come Dancing’s celebrity contestants has revealed they’ve been plagued by online scammers using her identity to create fake profiles to con victims.
Dr Punam Krishan, known for being a TV doctor on BBC’s Morning Live, had her image cloned and used across several social media sites to create fake accounts.
She opened up about the stress it had caused her in a column in the iPaper earlier this year, saying: “Barely a day goes by before I receive a message from a follower on social media informing me of a fake account using my images to spam them.”
Malicious fraudsters take photos from her public social media account to set up a fake profile.
The fake accounts will then contact victims using her identity, asking them for money for medical research or will claim to be raising money for charitable causes.
The star is partnered up with Gorka Marquez for this year’s Strictly series.
This is not the first time that a high-profile celebrity from the series has been targeted.
Earlier this year, a nurse was conned out of £62,000 by an account fraudulently using professional dancer Giovanni Pernice’s photograph in a catfishing scandal.
Dr Punam Krishan also revealed that some accounts using her image will also try to sell fake products and offer bogus medical advice to unsuspecting members of the public online.
The Glaswegian also told MailOnline about her concern surrounding the rise of “deepfake” video and audio being created with AI.
The technology gives scammers a more sophisticated way to steal identities by accurately replicating a person’s voice or image in a way that’s indistinguishable from reality.
She said: “I worry about the implications of this a lot.
“I immediately block and report any accounts I see, and I also advise my followers to do the same, but I still feel anxious about how far and wide they have travelled.
“What if someone has fallen for it, has transferred money or worse – taken the ill-informed advice and become unwell as a result?”
Read: How to avoid falling victim to an impersonation scam.
If you have been scammed and need help to recover your money fill out our Fraud Reclaim Form or call us for advice on 0333 9998791.