Massachusetts Woman Scammed By A Fake Vince Gill Account Asking For $350,000 To Help Save His Marriage

Just to set the record straight: country music legend Vince Gill will never ask you for money. The "Go Rest High On That Mountain" singer's name and likeness was apparently used for a scam that devastated a family in Massachusetts. On a recent episode of Scammer Stories , a daughter named Jackie told the story of how her mom fell for an online scam where someone claimed to be Vince Gill. The mother was living on her own, and in the past year, she became very standoffish and secretive. At one point, the daughter, who has now come out and told the story in hopes of helping others, took notice and decided to investigate. During a Christmas dinner, the daughter grabbed her mother's phone and started looking for evidence of what might have been going on. She quickly found Google chats on the device, which were leading her mom to believe that she was communicating with the 67-year-old (and married) Vince Gill. As to how that line of communication came to be, Jackie explained that it likely originated from social media: "She was following the real Vince Gill. I'm sure it's a managed account, not him. She commented 'Oh we love you in Boston! We hope you come to Boston.' After looking at that, we can see that other people had liked it, and then we started looking at people that were following my mother. They were fake Vince Gill accounts. Things like 'official' but the 'L' was a one instead of the 'L.'" Once Jackie and others close to her mother realized that she was a victim of a scammer, they staged an intervention in hopes of getting the mom's life - and finances - back on track. By the time the daughter discovered her mother was a victim, most of her financial accounts were already drained by the scammer. A friend of the mother, who frequented Vince Gill shows with her, told Jackie that her mom had even asked her for money to help with more investments involving Gill. That information, along with messages that were sent back and forth, as well as wire transfers, confirmed that the mother was a victim of a scam - and an effective one at that. As to how the older woman was fooled into giving money to Vince Gill, Jackie explained that the scammer came up with a not-so-great story to ask for financial help: "They had this sob story, which was that his wife, Amy Grant, was divorcing him because he was being accused of raping a young girl in a hotel. And that this girl wanted $350,000 to keep quiet that this ever happened. Try to tell me how you can believe that and then support that and send someone money to keep someone quiet? None of this makes sense." Eventually, Jackie was able to get her mother out from the grips of the scammer, though it didn't come without significant losses. It was never mentioned how much the mother handed over, but it was explained in the interview that three separate financial accounts, including retirement savings, were basically bled dry. Jackie said later on in the interview that she attempted to contact Vince Gill's PR team to let them know his name and likeness was being used by scammers, but they weren't much help: "My mother was involved in this scam. This person is using his name and I want you to be aware and if there's some message you can put on his Facebook or Instagram to say 'I'm not asking fans for money. I'm not contacting you.' And it was radio silence." The moral of the story here is to make sure you keep an eye out for scammers in this day and age, and especially keep an eye out on behalf of some of our older loved ones. Scammers often single out lonely people, like the mother in this story, so if you know someone vulnerable in your life that also happens to like Vince Gill, keep a close eye on them. And remember that celebrities aren't ever going to ask regular people for money. They likely have plenty of it. You can hear some more helpful tips and the rest of the story in the podcast linked below that details the Vince Gill scam: