Hallmark Stars Have an Important Warning for Fans
Hallmark Channel’s biggest stars are looking out for their fans.
Recently, some of the network’s most famous faces spoke out to warn about scammers impersonating popular Hallmark actors.
Tyler Hynes, Andrew Walker warn Hallmark fans about scammers
Scammers targeting fans on social media “is a growing, industry-wide problem,” said Three Wise Men and a Baby star Andrew Walker in the video, which was shared on the Hallmark Channel Instagram account.
The clip – which also featured Jonathan Bennett, B.J. Britt, Paul Campbell, Nikki DeLoach, Tyler Hynes, and Tamera Mowry-Housley – went on to warn people to be alert to “misleading messages” that purported to be from Hallmark actors. The scammers might ask for money, donations, or to meet in person.
“We will never contact you directly,” Hynes said. “If you receive a message like this, it’s a scam.”
“Protect yourself from scammers, and remember that our Hallmark stars will never contact you directly for any reason. Follow their official social handles to stay connected, avoid any engagement with imposter accounts, and report any scams to Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok,” Hallmark Channel captioned the post.
Multiple people on the post commented saying that they’d been approached by scammers on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms. Most quickly recognized that someone was trying to pull a fast one, but a few said they’d had to explain to a relative or friend that they were being scammed. Another shared a variation on the scam, where a con artist posed as the relative of a popular Hallmark star.
“I received messages from a woman claiming to be Lacey Chabert’s mom. Yeah right ! Anyway, I’m well aware of these scams but it’s not everyone who are so… thank you for this message !” the person wrote.
AI makes it disturbingly easy for scammers to trick fans
This isn’t the first time that Hallmark actors have warned people about social media scammers. But the problem – which is not new – has only become more acute with the rise of AI, which makes it easier to create convincing fakes of familiar faces.
“Please share with whoever needs to see this,” Hynes captioned an August Instagram post that included highlights from a Hollywood Reporter article about scammers using AI to impersonate celebrities like Keanu Reeves and Kevin Costner. “It is not just our community. It is everywhere. Awareness is everything. And AI is making even less pleasant with voice, video and pictures being very realistic.”
Scammers might use a celebrity’s likeness in a romance scam, building up a fake romantic relationship before asking the mark to send them money. In other cases, con artists use celeb images to trick people into “investing” money. Fake product endorsements and false political statements are also a problem. When scammers target older women, they often use images of stars that the victim “already respects [and] already trusts,” an expert told the Hollywood Reporter. Often, the people sending the messages are themselves victims of human trafficking.
Some scammers have even tried to profit off of a star’s personal tragedy. Cameron Mathison, who has starred in multiple movies for Hallmark Channel and Great American Family, lost his home in the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. Soon after, fake GoFundMes sprang up in his name.
“PLEASE DO NOT DONATE TO A GO FUND ME PAGE using my videos or photos!!! It is not us. We are not asking for money,” he wrote on Instagram. “Unimaginable that someone is using this disaster to rip people off.”
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