AI Scammers Stole $5.3 Billion by Impersonating Billie Eilish and More

But in 2025, the most worrying thing for music lovers was not the price of concert tickets or sold-out tours, but deception. According to a new report, hackers and fraud networks have managed to steal a staggering $5.3 billion from music fans this year by masquerading as some of the most popular artists in the world, making stardom a tool of deception and social media a landmine.

The results, published by social media security firm Spikerz, show a vast network of AI scams at work on various platforms such as X, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. The scams, becoming more sophisticated each day and hardly distinguishable from actual artist communications, relied on fake accounts, AI voices, doctored photos, and cloned branding to deceive fans into purchasing nonexistent merchandise, bogus concert tickets, or so-called “fan experiences” that never actually existed.

But at the heart of the fray were the biggest names in pop. Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter were named as the two most impersonated artists of the year – a measure not only of their popularity, but of the extent to which their fan bases are integrated into the fabric of the internet. They were followed by Billie Eilish, BTS, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi, BLACKPINK, Ariana Grande, and Drake, completing a top ten that looks like a world streaming chart – and a dream list for a scammer.

However, what makes this scamming wave particularly ominous is its ability to sound so legit. The AI technology has developed to the extent that fake artist accounts now post with very realistic captions, visuals, as well as simulated speech patterns that resemble the artists themselves. To fans, particularly the younger or more devoted ones, the difference between the real accounts and the fake ones has never been more difficult to distinguish.

As Spikerz consultant Scott Cohen explained, these social platforms are both the most powerful and most vulnerable bridge for artists and audiences. These are the platforms where fans mainly look for announcements, drops, and interaction, which becomes the main territory for exploitation. If artists are expected to innovate, connect, and develop communities online, then these platforms must safeguard them from continuous digital attacks, explained Cohen.

The harm extends well beyond a loss of funds to individual fans. When a scam occurs via a fake artist account, the loss of funds is merely the tip of the iceberg. Artists lose reputation, fan trust, and ultimately brand as a result of these scams that impact future ticket sales, merchandise releases, sponsorships, and record label partnerships. In an increasingly fan-focused music economy, the loss of trust is crippling.

And this isn’t a new issue — it’s simply escalating at an exponential rate. It has become all too common for well-known artists to be pulled into scam patterns that they themselves had no control over. For example, fans of Arctic Monkeys were scammed when a group of fraudsters acted as the band’s booking agent and promoted a fake world tour for 2025. Oasis fans got caught up during the mayhem of the band’s reunion ticket sales, with the average victim losing £346; and a banking report later confirmed that 90 percent of these scams came from phony ads on social media sites.

Even well-established pop stars have been affected. Sophie Ellis-Bextor issued a warning to her fans when her hit “Murder On The Dancefloor” was used in a scam advert generated by AI. Earlier last summer, Facebook came under fire for its inability to stop fraudulent Eras Tour ticket scams connected with Taylor Swift.

But what’s been different in 2025 is the scale. The technology has enabled scammers to industrialize their deception, generating thousands of fake accounts, posts, and ads simultaneously — all of which are crafted to look native to the platform and emotionally compelling. This isn’t spam anymore; this is a carefully crafted trap that seeks to leverage excitement, urgency, and fan loyalty. The catch is that the more artists reach out to their audience through the internet, the more vulnerable the audience becomes. And until the platforms take concrete measures to ensure verification and removal of content, the fans are left with a world where even your favorite artist may not be who they claim to be. By 2025, pop music had become far more than a cultural phenomenon. It had also become one of the most profitable methods of cybercrime. But for millions of fans, the price of faith was heartbreak — and billions of dollars lost.