Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
DANIEL O’CONNELL
Singer shocked as fraudsters try to scam his fans on app
DANIEL O’donnell has told of his shock over a fraudster impersonating him on Whatsapp in a bid to scam money.
The crooner took to his fan club magazine to warn people to be on their guard for bogus requests for charity donations. The article says: “There is currently a person on Whatsapp using an image of Daniel and his name ‘Daniel O’donnell’, who is looking for a donation online for seemingly charitable purposes. “Please be aware A MAN died after a crash involving a double decker bus yesterday morning.
The North Belfast collision happened at around 6am on the Antrim Road and the busy route was shut in both directions.
Two schools nearby were forced to close.
Police Inspector Robert
Mcmurran confirmed an investigation had been launched. He added: “A man has died as a result of the incident.
A sudden death this is not Daniel, as Daniel never messages fans on Whatsapp, and as this person is using Daniel’s image to try and get money from unsuspecting followers, this is regarded as fraud.
“Anyone who gets a message from this ‘rogue Daniel’ needs to report it immediately through Whatsapp – as there is an option to do so – to block this person.
“Please also be aware Daniel investigation is under way.” Yesterday North Belfast MLA Nichola Mallon extended her condolences and said: “My thoughts go out to this man’s family and friends at this extremely difficult time, and to all those involved in this incident.”
A Translink spokesperson said: “We can confirm a route 1J Metro bus was involved in a serious road traffic incident at Grays Lane on the Antrim Road at 6.25am this morning.
“We are investigating and are assisting the PSNI.” never goes on Messenger via Facebook, so if you see anything up there which looks like it has come or is coming from Daniel, it’s not.”
A pal of the Donegal singer revealed he acted straight away to warn fans.
The insider said: “Daniel was very grateful that this was brought to his attention and did his best to ensure his fans were made aware of the fraudster immediately, stopping any fans being cheated out of their hard-earned money.” Speaking last night Daniel’s representatives KCP Management said: “Fortunately this was nipped in the bud and to the best of our knowledge, no one was conned. We are still monitoring the situation.”
It’s not the first time the 56-year-old’s profile has been hijacked after hackers tried to set up a bogus Facebook account using his name last year.