Rieu Fan Club Abused By Corona Crooks

André Rieu Fan Club Abused By Corona Crooks

By MARTIJN SCHOOLENBERG, Telegraph

The corona virus also offers criminals the opportunity to take advantage of the situation. After the Elderly Union raised the alarm earlier for false corona related information tricks and fake emails, fans from an André Rieu Face-book fan page are now also receiving requests to donate so that children in Turkey will not be infected by the virus. Management says it has nothing to do with those messages.

"Turkey has just announced their first case of the Corona virus, which is very critical and should not be allowed to spread," André Rieu's fan page sent in a private message via Face-book. "The management asked me to provide emergency assistance to keep children out of reach of the virus. Please help me join hands and make the little ones safe and make the world beautiful to live in. My concert in the United States was also affected by this crazy virus. I want you to help me send some money to them. Many fans have already been responding to this. I wish you were there too.”

The recipient is then requested to transfer money via Money Gram or Western Union. The name mentioned does not match that of Rieu. In addition, it indicates the city of Istanbul and the country of Turkey. According to the sender, this is because he/she is the administrator of the page. If recipients respond to the message that the money may be needed more here in the Netherlands, than the sender continues to respond with the fact that he would like to receive money anyway.

André Rieu's management expressly states that it has nothing to do with the message. "This is done through accounts posing as our page, managed by gangs in Africa. They approach our fans (and other artists and movie stars) via Face-book, Instagram, Messenger etc. We report them regularly, but that is like mopping up with the tap open as Face-book does not act adequately to controls this. In addition, we have already issued warnings before about this".

The Fraud Help Desk confirms that there are many such messages circulating in the current corona crisis. "Criminals take advantage of the current fears," said spokesperson Tanya Wijngaarde. The advice is clear. "Never transfer money based on text messages alone. Always try to check the information out  yourself. ”

Thanks to Ineke for the article and John's translation