‘Is that you?’ Univision star Tony Dandrades reports suspected identify theft to FBI
Talk about a creepy case of stolen identity.
“Primer Impacto” entertainment anchor Tony Dandrades just fell victim to a scam that involved minor celebrities and the popular social media messaging app WhatsApp.
The Miami based journalist was forced to report the situation to the proper authorities, he announced on Instagram with a screenshot illustrating the incident on Monday.
“Warning!” began his post. “Someone is pretending to be me, sending messages asking for money, it’s a WhatsApp. “That’s not my phone number, but they have a picture of me. Oh and with many spelling mistakes! I’m reporting it to the FBI.”
Yes. Somebody uploaded a photo of Dandrades as the profile picture for a WhatsApp account with the NYC phone number 929-280-4165 and sent messages to Ricky Martin’s younger brother, bodybuilder Eric Martin, as well as to Memo Ibarra, a former singer from the Mexican American band Alacranes Musical. Posing as Dandrades, the imposter reached out to both men asking for money and telling them where they could send it, via Caribe Express.
Luckily, both sensed something amiss about the messages and reached out to Dandrades directly, off of WhatsApp. Martin simply asked, “Tony, is this you?”
That’s when Dandrades caught onto the situation. “It’s terrible feeling to see a person trying to pass themselves off as you. You don’t want to feel that. Especially when they are such bad spellers,” said Dandrades.
The investigation is ongoing.
This story was originally published January 14, 2019 at 9:01 PM with the headline "‘Is that you?’ Univision star Tony Dandrades reports suspected identify theft to FBI."