Toby Keith Warns Fans About People Impersonating Him Online

This may have happened to you before: you’ve gotten a message from someone who says they’re a country singer, and they start chatting you up. Maybe they flirt with you, offer you concert tickets, or share some of their struggles that they’ve never told anyone else about.

These messages make you feel special…after all, who wouldn’t be excited to receive a flirtatious or friendly message from their favorite country artist?

But then there’s always a catch. The artist tells you that in order to get those free concert tickets, they need a little money to hold the spots. Or they tell you a long-winded story about a sick friend or relative, and ask if you can send a little money their way to help them with their medical bills.

This is when some people realize they’ve been scammed. But others don’t see through the lies, and end up sending their money or bank account information to someone they think is their favorite country singer, but is actually an imposter.

Since so many country fans have been scammed by imposters on social media, a number of country artists got together in 2018 to film a PSA about the fake accounts.

https://www.facebook.com/blakeshelton/videos/10155815740024895/

Despite the stars’ best efforts to warn their fans about fake accounts, people still get scammed two years later. Because of this, Toby Keith felt the need to film a personal PSA to tell his fan how to spot imposters on social media.

“Remember, there’s only one Toby Keith,” Keith wrote in the video’s caption. “If a message comes from an account without a blue verified check mark, it’s not real!”

The blue check mark Keith is talking about is the little mark you see next to an artist’s name on social media. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok all have some sort of check that indicates a profile is “verified” and is the official account for a celebrity or public figure.

Take these examples of Keith’s official social media profiles as examples. 

To drive his message home, Keith told his fans to never give scammers their attention. “I don’t personally message anyone directly on social media,” he said. “So unless it comes from team Toby, and the account is verified with a blue check mark, it ain’t me bro.”

You can watch Keith’s full PSA about imposter accounts in the video below.