30 June 2023 , 15:20
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Strictly Come Dancing star Giovanni Pernice has spoken out to warn his fans about the dangers of fake and impersonator accounts.
The sage advice comes after the dancer revealed he was confronted by a fan who believed she had been talking to the Strictly star and had even sent him £3,000 of her own money.
Describing the situation as "the most horrible thing", the dancing star described how he was met by a fan who was "upset" after she discovered she'd been speaking to a fake social media account pretending to be Giovanni.
Giovanni, who has been on Strictly Come Dancing since 2015 and saw him win alongside Rose Ayling-Ellis in 2021, took to his social media to warn fans about fake accounts.
Strictly's Giovanni Pernice warned fans after he revealed a woman was duped into sending £3,000 to a fake account of him
The star reminded fans that he only has one Instagram account, and to ignore any others as fakesIn a video to his 1m followers, Giovanni wrote: "Please listen carefully to this message! Let’s not let them get away with it again! Love you all."
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Speaking in a video to the camera, the dancing pro said: "Hello, so quick update. I love social media and I'm here to talk about an issue that's happened a few times before now.
"Today I arrived at the theatre and reception called and said there is this young lady waiting for you downstairs because apparently I gave her a time and a place to meet.
"She said we spoke last night, you spoke to me last night and we used Facetime, we shared pictures and the most horrible thing is that she sent £3000 to this person that's pretending to be me. Well this criminal that's pretending to be me.
"Now I know that Instagram and any other social media platform are a huge platform but they're also very dangerous. All I'm trying to say is that if you want to engage in conversation with me, this is the only profile I've got."
Giovanni Pernice and Rose Ayling-Ellis won Strictly Come Dancing in 2021 (Darren Quinton/Birmingham Live)He continued: "So if you're speaking to Giovanni Pernice or any other Giovanni Pernice then it's not me if it's not in this profile. Or just go through my agent and obviously this will help as well.
"I'm very sorry if any of you have been in this situation before but I'm just trying to prevent...It's bad because this morning was very sad and seeing this woman very upset. So let's not make this happen again."
Fans have commented to share their support for the star and thank him for the warning as one wrote: "I hope the lady is okay. Sending her lots of love. & well done Gio for filming this message - hopefully the more awareness that there is of these scams, the safer people will stay."
Another commented: "And you would never ask a fan to send you money like that. This is terrible."
"Well done Giovanni for speaking out. It's not only you but many other celebs that are facing the same issue. However, some do nothing to protect their fans and stay quiet. Credit to you" praised a third.
Another added: "Hope the lady is ok. Well said gio. Must have been awful for you both."
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