Donegal band Onóir takes to social media to warn fans of fake accounts
‘It is crazy how sophisticated these things have become’
Donegal band Onóir’s popularity continues to increase, but this growing fame has attracted some unsavoury attention in the form of fake accounts targeting fans.
Onóir is made up of four outstanding vocalists, Tom McHugh, Declan Gaughan, Deane Connaghan, and Diarmaid McGee. Their exquisite harmonies and arrangements of ballads and folk songs has won them a loyal following, as has their consistently top notch performances and engagement with fans.
Having become aware of the issue of fake pages and accounts, Diarmaid McGee posted a video to the band’s Facebook page outlining the band’s concerns
“When you are online, please double and triple check who it is that you are actually interacting with, with pages and messages and everything else,” he pleaded.
“Over the last couple of weeks we have had so many people reach out to say that there is fake Onóir accounts, there’s fake accounts of the four of us individually, that there are bots online.
“These people and these pages and these bots have absolutely no good intentions, so please do not give out any personal information, do not give out any banking information.
“It is crazy how sophisticated these things have become. We’ve had some people send us examples of things that they have had - messages from these accounts and these bots - and it is just insane so please be so careful.
“There is actually a fake Onóir fan page online that initially seemed like a place where people were sharing videos of the concerts and photographs and music videos online. It turns out that page is in fact created by a bot.
“We have tried our best so far to get it banned. We are still working on it. We ask you to unfollow it if you do, to let your friends know, and to please report the page to Facebook.
“The page has now started reaching out to people looking for personal information and looking for bank details. Do not give anything out.”
Onóir is not the only act having to deal with this problem.
“In the last while we’ve reached out to friends of ours who are entertainers and they said the exact same thing, that in the last couple of months the number of fake accounts online has just exploded,” said Diarmaid. “So please, be very careful when you’re online. We’re grateful for all your support and we hope to see you all very soon.”
Onóir has a busy few months ahead with a programme of shows planned for Ireland and the UK. And they are giving fans the chance to win two tickets to the show of their choice that still has tickets available. More information on the competition, as well as regular updates from the band, can be found on the official Onóir Facebook page.