Sandra Bullock is known for keeping her personal life private, but she felt compelled to speak out Monday about scams coming from social media accounts impersonating her.
“My family’s safety, as well as the innocent people being taken advantage of, is my deep concern,” Bullock said in a statement to PEOPLE, “and there will be a time when I will comment more, but for now our focus is helping law enforcement handle this matter.”
The Speed star clarified that no accounts that say they’re hers actually are, because she doesn’t have any.
“Please be aware that I do not participate in any form of social media,” she continued. “Any accounts pretending to be me or anyone associated with me are fake accounts and have been created for financial gain or to exploit people around me.”
Bullock’s statement followed a social media post from her sister, Gesine Bullock-Prado, in which she complained about scammers creating fake accounts and pretending to be her.
Bullock-Prado said she was only sharing a few of the many fakes on Facebook, but that her reports to Meta, which owns the platform, have gone unheeded.
“I spend multiple times a day reporting fakes, dealing with weird & scary emails to my BUSINESS and HOME from men who believe that, through one of these many fake ‘me’s, they have a relationship with my sister through private messages and off app sites and have been giving (sometimes) THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS to an incredibly famous and successful grown assed woman,” she wrote.
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She clarified that she has just one account.
“When I report,” Bullock-Prado continued, “i also report to a security service that gives the account addresses directly to a Meta employee. These accounts are run by crime rings. They also run fake groups where a fake me posts ‘official statements.’ Not me. This is my only account and y’all know it’s about baking, cooking, animals, and gardening. I’m a grown assed middle aged woman with a life and I don’t troll around at 54 DMing people.”
Bullock-Prado shared a link to a January news story from PEOPLE about Bullock’s The Lost City costar Brad Pitt warning people against responding to social media accounts, after a French woman lost $850,000 in such a scam.
The woman believed she was dating Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actor and that he needed the money for medical expenses.
“It’s awful that scammers take advantage of fans’ strong connection with celebrities,” a spokesperson for Pitt told Entertainment Weekly at the time, “but this is an important reminder to not respond to unsolicited online outreach, especially from actors who have no social media presence.” In her own message, Bullock-Prado instructed people to avoid the imposter accounts entirely.
Bullock-Prado urged people to report and block the accounts.
“If you see a fake account, are friended or messaged by one, report and block,” she advised her followers. “The only reason I stay on FB is to monitor this for my own knowledge so I am aware of the danger coming at me (and yes, because of these scams, I’ve had to involve local law enforcement and they’ve been outstanding).”
Bullock’s representatives and Meta did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.