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YouTubeIn light of an online scammer impersonating The Bold and the Beautiful’s Thorsten Kaye allegedly convincing a Massachusetts woman to poison her husband, Steve Burton and Bradford Anderson want you to know what to look out for in case a social media scammer finds you.
Good To Be Back
Steve and Bradford start out talking about Steve’s return to General Hospital and Bradford’s interview with him on The Daily Drama Podcast, but quickly go into addressing an important and timely matter — online scammers.
A Dangerous Trend
Both actors are alarmed by the proliferation of online scams of late, with people pretending to be celebrities targeting unsuspecting fans. Bradford explains how people have even impersonated him and Steve and typically target older people as the Kaye impersonator did.
Steve points out that it’s almost always a red flag when someone asks you for money online in a too-good-to-be-true scenario. However, when Steve saw the Kaye story, he sent it to Bradford because he realized things were getting out of control.
Steve and Bradford even meet people at their personal appearances and comedy shows who believe they had been talking to them online, but instead were talking to impersonators.
An Alarming Story
Bradford explains what happened to the older Massachusetts woman who has now been charged with attempted murder after believing she was communicating with Thorsten Kaye, who has appeared on multiple soaps, including One Life to Live, Port Charles, All My Children, and now B&B. You can find the details of the story here.
Bradford details some of the things that scammers will do and have done. Some have impersonated him and Steve trying to get you to sell your home or give them your life savings.
Where Scammers Are Popping Up
Currently, there is a proliferation of scammers in Facebook groups that claim to be fan groups or pages for specific soap stars with someone posing as the stars in the comment section asking fans to private message them.
Steve wants you to know that anyone using that method is a scammer and to stay away. These impersonators often claim they can sell you a ‘fan card’ for hundreds of dollars that gives you access to private Zoom chats and other perks. The scammer will also form an emotional attachment with fans to get their way.
None of these offers are real, so never private message with anyone claiming to be your favorite star.
Both Steve and Bradford have had multiple people impersonating them, finding that most of the scamming happens on Facebook, as that’s where most of their fans convene. They find themselves reporting accounts daily and ask you to do the same in an effort to stop the scams in their tracks.
How To Know It’s NOT Steve And Bradford
The actors offer some pointers on how to know if you’ve found an official page for Steve and Bradford. First, their Stone Cold and the Jackal Facebook page has 260,000 followers, so the number of followers is an identifier.
If you see either of their names in the comment sections on that page, it is NOT them. However, Steve does have two Facebook pages, one with 4.5K friends and another called OneSteveBurton. That does not mean scammers won’t lift photos from those pages for their phony accounts.
Steve is also considering deleting both FB pages and already deleted his X (formerly Twitter) account in an effort to combat the scammers. However, he is still active on Instagram but will not randomly reach out to followers.
Red Flags To Look Out For
Bradford notes that when you see a blue checkmark as a profile picture, that does not mean you are talking to a celebrity with a verified online identity.
Other red flags include agents, managers, assistants, and actor representatives, as they will never reach out to fans. You should also watch for anyone claiming there is an emergency situation.
Bradford goes beyond celebrity scamming and warns you to never respond to anyone claiming to be a healthcare provider or government official.
Actors will never ask you to wire money or send pre-paid gift cards, so if someone does that, they are scamming you.
AI And ‘Deep Fake’ Can Become Dangerous
With Artificial Intelligence (AI) becoming more prominent in movies, on television, and online, Steve and Bradford are also learning about people who think they are video chatting with Steve. However, it is a scammer using their likeness and voice.
The actors want to protect their fans the best they can, which is the reason for this podcast.
What To Do If You Think You’re Being Scammed
If you start to fear you are being scammed online, Bradford advises you to first tell somebody, especially someone who may be younger and more tech savvy.
Steve relays the story of when his father-in-law was once thoughts that Jonathon Jackson (ex-Lucky, GH) was following him on a social platform. When he showed Steve, he immediately knew it was a scammer.
Another clue that a social media account might be fake is if a celebrity only has a handful of followers. Verified status used to be an indicator or a real account, but as Bradford points out, anyone can now pay for verification on X/Twitter.
The most important thing NOT to do is send money. If you have sent money and believe you were scammed, you can report the account to legal authorities. You can use the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as an online resource, as well as identitytheft.gov.
The GH Return
After thoroughly warning fans what to watch for with scams, Steve and Bradford go on to talk a little about his GH return. Steve does not have a start date yet but believes it will be in the next few weeks. Bradford is already back taping more scenes as Spinelli and points out that Jason mentions are in his script.
Show Notes:
Good To Be Back-00:01
A Dangerous Trend-1:43
An Alarming Story-5:26
Where Scammers Are Popping Up-7:16
How To Know It’s Not Steve And Bradford-11:43
Red Flags To Look Out For-14:40
AI Can Become Dangerous-18:52
What To Do If You Think You’re Being Scammed-20:37
