Two of the top UK soaps joined forces to issues a warning to the fans as Emmerdale and Coronation Street stars have been targeted by fraudsters

Bosses of Coronation Street and Emmerdale have issued a social media warning to their fans.

The Twitter /X accounts for the long-runningITV soaps shared the same statement as they pleaded with users to be mindful of online scammers. It comes after a number of fraudsters try to impersonate stars from the show to con unsuspecting fans. The likes of Lisa Riley, who plays Mandy Dingle on Emmerdale, and Corrie star Daniel Brocklebank, who is Billy Mayhew in the soap, have issued their own pleas online too.

In the statement, the soaps said: “Please be aware that actors from both Coronation Street and Emmerdale are currently being impersonated by scammers across all social media platforms. No cast member will ever directly request money for messages, meetings or any kind of personal interaction on social media.

“We are aware these sophisticated impersonations can include deep-fake footage (where it appears to be the actor talking but isn’t) and personal messages which seem to be realistic and in character. We urge everybody to be vigilant. Please report any concerns to the relevant platform.”

The statement ended: “The legitimate way of meeting with real members of the cast is via official ‘meet and greet’ events run by ITV Star Tours.”

Kym Marsh is the latest actress from the soap world to have been targeted by scammers in this way. She warned her fans of a fake Facebook profile pretending to be her. Hitting out at the scammers, she told them that if they were going to pretend to be her, they could at least get their facts right.

Kim Kardashian has also warned fans of such fraudulent activity following the California wildfires. She took to her Instagram Stories showing an email from someone saying they were her. The alleged email had attached a fake phone number for people to ring to support the apparent cause.

Over the top of an email example, Kim wrote: “Beware of scammers! This is not real, if anyone gets an email like this. How horrible.” The fake email was titled Kim Kardashian Campaigns For Affected People In LA. It was also littered with mistakes as it read: “Dear esteemed, This is kim kardashian hope you are doing great? Thanks for been a supportive fan. I want to bring our notice about the recent incident in Los Angeles about the fire outbreak, please I want us to play our part by helping those affected. you know I can’t do it alone that is why I have you all as a fan, family and supporters you can support with any amount.”

Coronation Street previously tackled the issue of deepfakes. In a storyline involving Abi Webster (Sally Carman), they showed scenes of her being left horrified and scared following her discovery. She found that videos of a sexual nature supposedly of her were circulating. In reality, someone had used technology to put her face on someone else’s body.