If you received a message from Shaggy on social media, Shaggy has something to tell you: “It wasn’t me.”
The Grammy-winning artist known as Mr. Boombastic posted a message to fans on Instagram on Wednesday warning them of imposters.
“It has come to my attention that there have been posts online from people purporting to be me and hitting up my fans for money while making false claims that they owe me something,” he wrote. “I would like to make it clear that these are nothing more than an internet scam.”
Shaggy added: “It saddens me that this has become our reality & that innocent people are being dragged in to this ridiculousness. My best advice is to please not engage with these fake accounts.”
In response, one person commented: "It happened to me last year.. a fake Shaggy wanted to put on a show in Montreal. But my team and me discovered it was a scam pretty quicky. Thanks for sharing this."
Fake profiles and appeals for cash targeting fans of specific music artists are quite common.
In 2017, Canadian country singer Brett Kissel called scammers posing as him “snakes.” He fumed: “I hate these guys. I don’t know who they are but I hate them. I hate them with everything that I have.”
Last year, iHeartRadio.ca exposed a scammer posing as Canadian country singer George Canyon, whose rep Karen Hughes quickly had the account suspended.
“There are a number of fake accounts out there,” she said. “It’s driving us crazy.”