Paige Spiranac‘s lavish internet career isn’t without challenges. Many people out there have tried to scam her over 4 million followers. Be it by pretending to be her, or by asking to send money. The moment she became popular, this began. In 2016, a fraudster edited a screenshot of her head and put it on someone holding a sign that said “I love you, baby.” Then in 2018, another scammer went so far as to create a doctored driver’s license with her photo to swindle people. In a recent interview, she shed light on one more such incident.

“The hardest thing for me is that there’s a lot of like impersonating accounts,” she said on the St. Andre Golf’s YouTube channel. “I’ve had people come up at events and like…try to kiss me cuz they think that we’re together. Um, which is really scary.”

People who follow Spiranac know that this is not new for her. Unfortunately, in recent times, Spiranac has seen a growing surge of scam cases, with people impersonating her and demanding cash from her fan base.

“They’ll scam people, and then those people get really, really angry because they’ll lose, like you know $100,000,” she voiced.

Most of these scams start on WhatsApp, Instagram, and sometimes Telegram, where the impersonator would claim to be in financial distress. People, believing it to be Paige, would transfer money to that account. Things start getting crazy when, after a period of talking to that account, the victims of the financial fraud would start believing that they are in a relationship with Paige.

“That’s the worst part because it’s just still like the wild, wild west of, you know, social media,” she shared.

Instead of stopping, these scams have grown stranger over time.

In May 2023, she posted on Instagram that fake accounts were inviting people to play Scrabble in her name. When one confused fan reached out to her for clarity, she urged people to block and report those impostors. Over the next few years, this had only increased with multiple fake Instagram or X accounts kept popping up.

“Fake me responding to another fake me lol,” she joked while posting a screenshot of two of her fake accounts replying to a fan’s post. “They could make a black mirror episode about impersonating accounts because it’s out of control.”

Oftentimes, she had to resort to the very place that caused these troubles – the social media – to warn her fans. When scammers started reaching out on WhatsApp, Telegram, or even Google Hangouts to avoid being caught by her, she had to issue statements.

“Hi, just a friendly reminder, I don’t have a telegram or anything like that…The only place you can talk to me directly is on Passes…One reason I have my Passes account is to help eliminate any confusion with impersonators.” Passes is a subscription-based platform that allows people to play and access content from their favorite creators.

But these never solved the issue. In August 2025, she even secured a three-year restraining order against one impersonator who had escalated from online harassment to real-world stalking. These are not surprising if you look at the data.

As per a Yahoo! report, female celebrities are significantly more targeted for impersonation scams than male celebrities. McAfee’s 2024 study revealed that out of the top-10 most impersonated celebrities, 8 were women. Adding to that, men easily fall victim to such accounts, with one study revealing that 52% fall prey to such cases. These men apparently fall in love with these accounts (pretending to be a famous female celebrity) and then transfer thousands of dollars.

Such cases and statistics just point to the scary times that we are heading into. And what is notable is that the golf world has recently come under attack from such impostors, with such cases popping up more often than not.

LPGA stars are being attacked by a spew of fake accounts

Paige Spiranac is not the only one fighting off such impersonators. Several of the biggest names in women’s golf have been under attack. Top players like Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson, Michelle Wie West, and Charley Hull have been warning fans strictly about fake accounts misusing their names and likenesses. The scams always follow the same script: a low-follower profile posing as the golfer, sliding into DMs of random people, luring them onto apps like Telegram or WhatsApp before demanding money in exchange for “exclusive content,” fake meet-and-greets, or even a fabricated relationship.

Korda recently had to clarify multiple times that she has only one official Instagram and X account, after scammers tried to extract up to $70,000 in crypto and gift cards under her name. Hull faced a frightening real-life confrontation when a fan believed they were actually romantically involved. Wie West’s off-course era made her a fresh target, prompting her to issue reminders that she and her team will never ask for money. And Thompson, who has repeatedly spoken out on Instagram Stories, continues to stress that any page other than her verified one is fraudulent.

As these players and celebrities come together to warn about such scary incidents, it is also on fans to remain cautious and think twice before believing a random account to be World No. 2 Nelly Korda or internet sensation Paige Spiranac.