LEWISTON — Patrick Dempsey is not asking people to donate money to him, or to his Dempsey Centers cause through his social media accounts, the actor tweeted Monday.
Dempsey tweeted it has come to his attention “that people have been impersonating me and asking my fans for money (through social media). Please do not ever talk to, or give money to anyone saying it is me. My official profile has a blue circle with a check mark.”
Dempsey asked his fans to report any fake pages to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
Nancy Audet, spokeswoman for the Dempsey Centers in Lewiston and Portland, confirmed Dempsey is not asking anyone for money.
“Patrick puts his heart and soul into everything, but he doesn’t himself solicit funds in that way (through social media),” Audet said.
It has come to my attention that people have been impersonating me and asking my fans for money. Please do not ever talk to, or give money to anyone saying it is me. My official profile has a blue circle with a check mark. Please report any fake pages to FB, instagram,twitter. pic.twitter.com/4Keiyeo1gg
— Patrick Dempsey (@PatrickDempsey) July 30, 2018
Wendy Tardif, executive director for The Dempsey Centers, said by phone Monday evening: “Anyone who wants to make a donation to our organization is encouraged to do so by going to our website, www.dempseycenter.org. I want to reiterate that Patrick Dempsey would never solicit donations through any of his social media accounts. If anyone has questions in regard to making a donation, I strongly urge them to contact us directly at 207-795-8250.”
The Dempsey Challenge in Lewiston is Sept. 28-29, when Dempsey returns to Maine and mingles with thousands of people raising money to help cancer survivors. For that annual event, “we do have a lot of folks doing independent fundraising for their teams,” Audet said.
Individual teams are raising money in a number of ways, from holding a cheesecake raffle to a Margaritas night to a paint night.
To raise funds for the Dempsey Challenge, “people have to register for the challenge,” Audet said. “If people look on our website and go to challenge participants,” they will see listings of independent fundraising events now ongoing.
The scam has been going on for a while, Audet said.
“People set up fake accounts and send messages” saying they are Dempsey, she said.
On Dempsey’s Facebook page, a number of people posted they received messages from someone claiming to be Dempsey encouraging them to send money via Western Union or MoneyGram to help his “foundation” in Africa. On Monday afternoon, Dempsey posted that he read the comments under his initial warning that someone was pretending to be him.
“Thank you all very much for giving me details,” he wrote. “Just to be clear, I do not ever direct message people from my social media accounts. I do NOT have messenger for FB. If you receive a message, it is not me. Please do not send any money to anyone who is asking and saying they are me.”
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