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Johnny Depp Calls Out Impersonation Scams After Fans Forked Over Thousands to Fraudsters

Johnny Depp warned fans not to fall for scammers impersonating him online after it was reported that people had forked over thousands to fraudsters.

These kinds of celebrity impersonation scams have spread wildly over the past couple years, especially thanks to the proliferation of new artificial intelligence tools, as Depp’s statement noted. They’re also similar to so-called pig butchering schemes, where scammers assume fake identities (not even necessarily famous people), lure victims into emotional relationships, then bleed them for money, often by promising big returns on some investment opportunity. Others on the list included Scarlett Johansson, Kylie Jenner, Taylor Swift, and Tom Hanks, who issued a warning about a scam last summer where his AI-generated likeness was used in ads promoting “miracle cures and wonder drugs.”

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