Charlotte Foster
Legal

"This is horrific": Queen icon calls out convincing scam

Brian May has spoken out after becoming the target of a dangerous scam, urging people to be careful online. 

The guitarist of iconic rock band Queen was made aware of the scam by a fan, who sent him the TikTok of what seems to be May himself offering concert tickets at a discount. 

The video, which is actually AI-generated and has nothing to do with May or with Queen, shows the rockstar offering music fans the chance to see a concert from backstage. 

“I hope you’re all well out there,” says the fake Brian May in the video. “Some good news. Backstage tickets for my next show in your cities are now going for only $800, which were previously $2000. I’m only selecting 10 people in the comments, so if you’re ready to make payment, comment, ‘ready’.”

May responded to the post publicly, sharing his horror and anger with fans over the “creepy” video, saying, “My God. This is horrific.”

“I suppose this is now so easy to do – and there are always people who will sink to any depths to try to make a quick buck. Disgusting.”

He continued, “Thanks for the alert dear (TikTok username) stereojazz. I’ve alerted our team and hopefully we can squash this.”

Fans were quick to comment that they had almost been fooled by the convincing video. 

“That they abuse your beautiful personality for this scam hurts even more and is really scary. I hate it,” commented one. 

“It is insanely terrifying what AI can do these days,” wrote another.

Image credits: TikTok

Tags:
legal, scam, Brian May, tickets