Skillibeng being scammed - Impersonators profiting from the deejay’s name

Fast-rising dancehall artiste Skillibeng is the latest entertainer to be targeted by scammers.

The artiste, who rose to fame last year following his mega hit Brik Pan Brik, says online vultures have been impersonating him and have been swindling potential clients out of large sums of money.

He wants people to be wary of these pretenders and get to know the authorised channels to connect with him in order to do business.

"I can't even remember when the first instance of this was, but I can tell you it's been going on for several months and mi just wah the people dem aware say it a gwaan," he told THE STAR. "Mi get fi understand say a nuff pages out deh wid people a act like dem a me or mi manager and a take people money. It a get from bad to worse because dem a take some big money and a promise the people dem all kinda dubs and thing, so me affi come out and talk bout it now. Mi see say dem nah stop and time too hard fi people a send dem hard-earned money to these people and nah get nothing in return.

"The world know say dis can't be good and so me affi just do wah me can bout it and repair the bad image weh dem a paint pan mi name right now," he continued. "Mi affi try get rid a dem thing yah and di only way me can really do dat a fi make the people dem know say the only way dem can do business wid Skillibeng is if dem link Gutty Bling or the info weh deh pan my Instagram page which is verified. Those are the only legit avenues to get to Skillibeng."

Gutty Bling, the artiste's producer, told THE STAR that the scammers have been getting more and more brazen with their actions.

BLOCKED INSTAGRAM PAGE

He revealed that there is one particular Instagram page that has been set up as a fan page for the artiste, and has blocked both his and the artiste's legitimate Instagram pages.

"That page have almost the same amount of followers Skilli have, and so it look like it could be a fan page but it isn't. They have been scamming people out of lots of money, US$2,000 and dem money deh," he said. "The page even have up in the description Skilli main account. But people can't click on it and get to Skilli page because the fake page block our real accounts." He said that the fake account is skillibeng_updates.

Gutty Bling says each time they request that the page be removed, it reappears weeks later.

"Di man dem a go hard man, and we just wah people know say we nuh associated with the page none at all," Gutty Bling said.