Millions upon millions of dollars has made its way into the hands of criminals thanks to music industry-related scams. According to FBI Nashville, criminal and cybercriminal activity has been running rampant in and around the music industry. Both employees in the industry and fans of music themselves have fallen victim to scams between January 2024 and September of 2025, and in just that period of time, over $12 million has been reported lost to the FBI. Now, FBI Nashville is doing what they can to make people more aware of these scams, and shared this message back in March informing the public about the criminal activity, and giving them a heads up on methods scammers are using to take money from victims: “FBI Nashville is raising awareness about criminal and cybercriminal activity targeting the music industry and fans alike. Remember to take a beat and be wary of high-pressure tactics used by scammers.” And just in case anyone out there is confused… no, FBI Nashville is not the new show focusing in on Music City that’s airing on ABC. That would be 9-1-1 Nashville. Unfortunately, this issue is not fictional. It’s very real, and FBI Nashville is doing what they can to get information out about scams within the music world. They even included the Top 5 Reports of Music Industry-Targeted Cyber Crime in their post above, which included these five different types of scams: Romance Scams: 527 fans reported a loss of $12,281,229 to criminals impersonating musicians Industry Scams: 107 music industry professionals reported a loss of $777,063 to non-delivery, advanced fee and overpayment scams Extortion: 64 reports where cybercriminals used threats of violence, personal information, or explicit photographs to obtain unreleased music or money Non-Delivery Scams: 61 fans reported a loss of $325.574 to criminals selling fake concert tickets, meet and greets and merchandise Data Breaches: 55 reports where cybercriminals gained unauthorized access to music industry professionals’ unreleased music or social media accounts FBI Nashville also noted that most of the scams target individuals that are over the age of 60. The elderly population and those who are intellectual disabilities are considered to be the most vulnerable when it comes to online scams, and because scammers have no shame at all, those are the ones they go after. But as you can see, even those who work in the music industry aren’t safe from scam artists. The moral of the story here is to stay vigilant when it comes scammers in this day and age, and especially keep an eye out on behalf of some loved ones. Scammers often single out lonely people, so if you know someone like that in your life that also happens to be a fan of country music, keep an eye out. And remember that celebrities aren’t ever going to ask regular people for money, or offer up money with no strings attached. If you think this doesn’t happen often, you’d be wrong. Back in July of 2024, a story about a Massachusetts woman sending a fake Vince Gill over $350,000 went viral. It’s crazy to think that over $12 million has been lost just due to romance scams… but then you read stories like that one and that outrageous total makes more sense.The post FBI Nashville Says Over $12 Million Has Been Stolen By Scam Artists Posing As Musicians first appeared on Whiskey Riff.