Sandra Bullock isn’t mincing her words as social media scammers continue to target her family.
The 60-year-old “Speed” actress, who is known for keeping her personal life private, recently released a statement reminding her fans that she doesn’t own any social media accounts.
“Please be aware that I do not participate in any form of social media,” she wrote in her statement, shared by People on Feb. 3.
The reminder came with a stark warning for anyone who comes across a profile pretending to be her.
“Any accounts pretending to be me or anyone associated with me are fake accounts and have been created for financial gain or to exploit people around me,” Bullock continued.
The Oscar-winning actress added that she will have more to say in the future, but is now focused on “helping law enforcement handle this matter.”
“My family’s safety, as well as the innocent people being taken advantage of, is my deep concern,” Bullock wrote.
The warning came just the day after Bullock’s sister, Gesine Bullock-Prado, shared similar concerns in a Feb. 2 Instagram post, where she shared a long list of fake Facebook accounts pretending to be her.
“Another day, the same lack of safety and response from @meta,” Bullock-Prado wrote in the caption.
While she admits to spending a lot of time reporting these accounts, she’s frustrated to see that Meta has yet to remove them from the platform.
“I spend multiple times a day reporting fakes, dealing with weird & scary emails to my BUSINESS and HOME,” Bullock-Prado continues, “from men who believe that … they have a relationship with my sister.”
She goes on to reveal that some of the men have sent the scammers “thousands of dollars.”
“These accounts are run by crime rings. They also run fake groups where a fake me posts ‘official statements.’ Not me,” she writes — adding that she has one account and one account only.
“If you see a fake account, are friended or messaged by one, report and block,” she urges. “The only reason I stay on FB is to monitor this for my own knowledge so I am aware of the danger coming at me.”
Meta responds to Bullock’s concern as cases continue to rise
On Feb. 4, a Meta spokesperson released a statement with People condemning the uptick in scammers in response to Bullock’s plea.
“People who impersonate others on Facebook and Instagram violate our policies, and we remove this content when it’s found — like we are doing in this case,” the spokesperson wrote.
“We continue to invest in technology to improve our detection and enforcement against scams and work with law enforcement to prosecute scammers,” they continued.
Of course, this isn’t the first time social media scammers have made headlines.
Last month, fraudsters posing as Brad Pitt — who starred alongside Sandra Bullock in “The Lost City” — went viral after swindling roughly $800,000 from a French woman in her 50s.
In an interview with French television outlet TF1, which has since been taken down, the woman said she thought she was in a relationship with Pitt, who was asking for money to fund his cancer treatment.
“At first I said to myself that it was fake, that it’s ridiculous,” she told the outlet, according to BFM TV. “But I’m not used to social media and I didn’t really understand what was happening to me.”
The $800,000 she sent the scammer came from her recent divorce settlement. It wasn’t until she found out the real Pitt was dating Inés de Ramón that she realized she had been scammed.
At the time, a spokesperson for Pitt expressed how “awful” it is that “scammers take advantage of fans’ strong connection with celebrities.”
“This is an important reminder to not respond to unsolicited online outreach, especially from actors who have no social media presence,” the spokesperson told Entertainment Weekly.
As for Bullock-Prado, who referenced the fake Pitt story in her Instagram post, she hopes Meta and Facebook start taking these claims as seriously as Instagram takes them.
“Strangely, Insta handles these things and even informs me when someone creates an account that may be an imposter,” she says, praising Instagram (also owned by Meta) for their dedication to privacy.
“But FB? Same company with same tech? Can’t be bothered,” she adds.
