Sunrise co-host Natalie Barr spoke on Monday’s show about social media accounts that have been pretending to be her.
“I want to share something important with you today,” she begins in a clip posted by Sunrise‘s Instagram account, talking directly to camera.
“Over the past few weeks I’ve become aware of a growing number of fake social media accounts pretending to be me.
“Like this one you’re seeing on screen right now, that is not my social media name. Some of these accounts are sending private messages to people like you, striking up random conversations.
“Now, I do chat with some viewers from my verified account, I love hearing your feedback about the show, your story ideas, your favourite interviews, and yes, even questions about what I’m wearing.
“But these messages are different.
“I would never contact someone out of the blue claiming I’ve been monitoring their profile. I would never ask for money… or personal information.”
Barr also warned viewers that the fake accounts use her name and photos “to make themselves look legitimate.”
She urged viewers to “trust your instincts” about suspicious messages, block accounts and report them.”
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Natalie Barr warns viewers about fake accounts in her name
The hugely popular journalist, who began on Sunrise as the news reader until she was appointed as co-host, has a verified Instagram account – with a blue tick next to her account name – and 121 000 followers.
The amount of followers is a big red flag as fake accounts tend to have very few.
Instagram has an in-app reporting tool which should be used to notify the platform of suspicious behaviour.
Top image: Natalie Barr warns viewers about social media scams. Image: Instagram