INSANE but TRUE: The Ritchie Blackmore Scam

[@GuitarMAXMusic]

For those asking why there is a Suicide Hotline listed under this video, it's because the woman who got scammed attempted suicide, and I read that out loud in the video.... so there you go.

[@aparise1]

The red flag was Ritchie Blackmore acting like a nice guy.

[@WhoDaF0ok1sThatGuy]

Ritchie really isn’t an asshole but he’s definitely not a “nice guy”

[@billyshane3804]

Has anyone who actually comes to these conclusions interacted with Ritchie Blackmore on any regular kind of basis??

[@SJ-ty5rw]

Also he's not the type of guy to be chatting on facebook .

[@surreshguhan6033]

Broo 😂😂😂😂😂 best comment. Cheers 🍻

[@johnphillips4033]

I know folks who’ve had interactions with Mr Blackmore an he certainly is not chatty, warm, or fuzzy. It would be really cool if Ritchie replenished her funds.

[@sixtoseven7563]

What gets me is the lack of interest by the govt. If a bank is robbed, cops are on it. Scammers exist because they aren't held accountable.

[@jeffreyhutchins6527]

Because so many are Nigerian Princes

[@BoltRM]

​@@jeffreyhutchins6527Yeah royals & dictators are always above the law 😡

[@pedroleal7118]

And they have safe heavens where they are welcome (no extradition!)

[@sixtoseven7563]

@@pedroleal7118 don't need extradition when you got ammunition.

[@ModernGolfer]

Scams like this should be a 10 year mandatory sentence PLUS having to make restitution with, say, 10% interest. Thanks, Max, for helping spread the word about this 'buyer beware' scam. It's appreciated, brother.

[@calbrockocat8728]

The one thing I've learned as I transitioned from the 70s to now is this: TRUST NO ONE. If you start with this, every stranger has a barrier to overcome. If you want to trust strangers, be prepared to lose everything.

[@guitarsehole]

... or have nothing to lose. Trust at your own risk!

[@surreshguhan6033]

Don't talk to strangers - Dio

[@pat5882]

It’s just has hard to trust those you have known for decades.

[@gnovaplanet]

Thank you for posting this! A great public service!

[@dennisblevins5723]

Big red flag is when the scammer asks you to send gift cards of any kind.

[@timesurfingalien]

Dont think i have to worry about being scammed for that amount.🤣

[@GuitarMAXMusic]

Right? lol

[@mik99D]

This was checked out by journalists, we are told. So be very aware. Great point made and I agree. However the journalists can be checked out aa that is their job.

[@bkmeahan]

whenever someone calls or texts me with a scam I tell them the person they are looking for just died and start asking for stories about the person we can tell at the funeral.

[@therifftones2198]

Scammers are rampant, beware. Thanks Max.

[@jeffmoore7551]

Good on you for doing this video!! I get a periodic training at work on recognizing these sorts of things. But lots of good people don’t have that benefit and want to believe the best in people. You are doing a great public service here.

[@a-nus]

Theres a story about EVH meeting richie blackmore before he got famous and richie giving him the cold shoulder

[@OzziePete1]

Eddie wasn't the only one. Ask Angus Young (AC/DC) what he thinks of him!

[@tobsixi6702]

Tbh when it comes to the aspect of personalities among guitarists you can insert the names of pretty much every other guitarist into the discussion and it wouldnt make a difference. Therefore its kinda ridiculous to always hear how Ritchie was this big a**hole compared to everybody else... Ritchie has told on numerous occasions, how the Yardbirds big 3 were equally as douchy towards him, when he encountered them as an up and coming guitarist in the late 60s... obviously it would have been the right call to break out of this circle and be a better man than those who came before you, but thats not how it works most of the times which is why people coming from a toxic environment will also show toxic behavior once they are in a position of power

[@RedRavenNine]

Not only might this scammer still be out there, but scammer also do scams like this. Pretend they lost money to scammers to get money from a fundraiser.

[@karlshuler1011]

That is a great point as well. There are so many scams out there now. You just never know. This one is a sad story that will easily tug at people's hearts. So, absolutely, this could be a scam. The only difference is a Gofund is easily traceable.

[@Shred_The_Weapon]

The only worse thing than being scammed is how there’s zero attempt to stop it happening. Nobody tries to trace it, map it out or identify who these people are. Too many people are complicit in it if combatting git could mean inconvenience for them.

[@JuanWay2Rock]

These scammers make me sick. Over the years, I remember the same thing happened with these scammers posing as Peter Frampton, Neal Schon, and Joe Walsh...fortunately, all three responded very quick telling us fans to NOT TO CLICK onto their site.

[@HigzyTeflon]

"Suicide crisis helpline" above the video title is baffling... to say the least

[@juanvaldez5422]

@@brizzieleif5258what a brain dead take

[@ChrisAyres-do4fz]

Its there because the lady in the video nearly took her life after being scammed so its there if people here are in a similar situation with depression etc

[@Thirdgen83]

@@ChrisAyres-do4fz It's there because KZbin can't mind their own business.

[@stringspicksandfiddlestick6388]

My brother in law thinks Jimmy Page is going to stay with him when he goes on tour.

[@GuitarMAXMusic]

Oh man, has "Jimmy Page" asked for any money?

[@lancejasper7708]

😅

[@CaptainCraigKWMRZ]

Excellent chance to cuddle!

[@scoutrifle6827]

Is your brother-in-law Robert Plant?

[@billyshane3804]

Champion

[@RevGerryRM]

I understand getting scammed. Starting in May 2023 I was scammed out of $20,000 by a soldier stationed out of the country. I have PTSD with major depression and anxiety. It just about ruined me, both financially and just about loosing my sick wife. I'm still a little over $8,000. I have not recouped any of the money. I had to sell my beloved home.

[@GuitarMAXMusic]

Wow! Can you share the details of the scam? It might be helpful for others to watch out for.

[@AllanGildea]

You are obviously a resilientand caring person. Sorry to hear of that horrible ordeal - very best wishes to you.

[@ianinindy1165]

Ritchie Blackmore is a difficult person to associate with says other band members. He is a lone rebel type. I would laugh my azz off if I recieved that link.

[@aparise1]

I believe Dio stated that the biggest thing he learned from Blackmore was how NOT to treat people.

[@charlesrubitschung7592]

Cancer is Hell and this video proves it and now we all know better folks also a message to all my fellow guitarists SHRED ALL SCAMMERS!!!!!

[@Barbarapape]

A very sad situation to be in just when you thought life could not get any worse. This is the dark side of the internet based world that we live in, and a gift to scammers who just move on to the next victim.

[@kaptkrunchfpv]

There's has always been and always will be POS people, the internet just makes it easier.

[@watcherzero000]

Nothing I dislike more is politicians, scammers and music gear resellers who sell their gear for more than what it's worth.

[@snapfinger1]

Hard hitting expose KZbin journalism. Way to go Max.

[@Fuxerz]

Sad for a person very ill. Wow, who does this to a person.

[@citizenVader]

I don't have words for these people.

[@unruler]

Selling a slab of wood for 5k$ is the real scam.

[@bungopony]

This whole story sounds weird and unbelievable. Why would Ritchie Blackmore (or any other rich and famous person) call HER to ask for investment money? He would be calling his other wealthy friends, banks, etc...Obviously they haven't stayed in touch since school days and he would probably not even remember her. He would also have no idea how much money she had, would phone her directly and certainly discuss things from their school days. C'mon man!

[@FrostedSeagull]

To put this into context. In 2016 ( OR 2017) a few months before the UK Pound collapsed, there was an article on Ritchie Blackmore by the Forbes UK edition. Ritchie Blackmore was worth in excess of $US250 million OR about £110 million. The article in UK FORBES said that Blackmore is an astute businessman and made the bulk of his monies from outside music as hefty Deep Purple residuals and revenues had long dried up. 1980 - 88 Ritchie Blackmore invested the bulk of his income into building shopping malls across the USA. Blackmore made dollars on cents, meaning an absolute fortune! Blackmore survived the 1987 crash as he invested in properties and property development worldwide. You can now see how elderly, conservative people can easily be scammed. I bet this unfortunate woman who obviously had read about Ritchie Blackmores' brilliant business acumen was easily fooled.

[@tankthelord1178]

I sent Elvis Presley loads of gift cards last year - best thing I ever did, I'm sure he needed them.

[@GuitarMAXMusic]

That was very kind of you.

[@pamnchip]

I got scammed on one of those guitar deals a while back. Fortunately, PayPal was good enough to step in and stop the payment to them and refund my credit card. Never again.

[@richarddwyermusic]

Awesome public service video!

[@GuitarMAXMusic]

Thank you!

[@bobc.5698]

How did you get your guitar hangers angled? Oh, I have a ksa50 coming.

[@frednoce3043]

My best friend's mom fell victim to scammer on Facebook who claimed his undying love for her yet fleeced her out of thousands of dollars.

[@GerhardGeficky-jg4ok]

Ritchie Blackmore is stuck in the 70s. 1770s. He's a pretty nice guy even let me try out a few of his strats!

[@GerhardGeficky-jg4ok]

A 419 scam no doubt?

[@carl8229]

Scammers from India, and all the "stans" never face repercussions. So they just keep doing it constantly.

[@pauln6803]

India garnered a bad name because it became organised with entire offices with payroll staff attempting to con people. But there's no shortage of con artists in every nation.

[@jessebreakspear6656]

I heard somewhere cyber crime is the third largest economy in the world. The thing that's so crazy about it is, if you have good enough cyber skills to pull off a scam you can make a ton of money through legit channels.

[@BitwiseMobile]

I tell my wife all the time - if it sounds too good to be true then it is. In my 15 years on Facebook I have never had an actual artist reach out to me, like a post, or otherwise interact with me (well Eric Johnson is kind of responsive, but I doubt it's actually him, and probably someone he hired to do his media, but you never know). If I get a like or a comment from an "artist" or anyone else with celebrity status I immediately block that person. I know it's not the real deal and they are most likely trying to setup the con.

[@MashaT22]

Yowzas. That’s horrible.

[@MrRicksta76]

is there a gofundme page for the woman who was scammed? (i scrolled and found the link), i also found out she passed away too. That is heart breaking!

[@GuitarMAXMusic]

Yes very sad.

[@karlshuler1011]

@@MrRicksta76 I'm sorry to hear that 😔

[@denyel_]

my best friends mom sat us down to break the news that she had a boyfriend, Kid Rock. Every red flag we brought up she had an answer that the scammer fed her. 4 followers because it’s his secret account to talk to her or “I can’t call because i’m on stage” She had recently lost her husband while they were in the middle of a crazy separation. This is the smartest and most with it older person i’ve ever met and they got her for a few days. Lonliness is a B

[@carl8229]

Just checked. Looks like she already passed away unfortunately.

[@ChrisAyres-do4fz]

Terrible lowest of the low these scam artists are , I hope The real Ritchie Blackmore sees this article and video and helps his old Classmate out in her time of need , so she can be comfortable in her last days.

[@karlshuler1011]

For anyone thinking she is a fool. Let me explain something about having cancer. I have it myself. The amount of morphine I take has changed my life as well. I can't remember simple things, like names some days. I won't make any business deals without my wife around. I feel bad for this lady. The scammers probably made her feel really comfortable playing on her illness as well. The drugs definitely would cloud her judgment. It's disgusting these people are out there scamming so many people. For all the good of the internet, there is also this dark side to it.

[@robinluck2922]

While living in the S.F. Bay area some guy was posing as the singer for Nazareth. He would stay at nice hotels & run up huge room service bills saying he was waiting on money... He did this a few times & got Dan McCafferty in a situation where he had to prove he wasn't the guy.

[@ChrisShortyAllen]

The woman is trying to buy a relationship with heavy strings attached. Don't assume she is a victim.

[@aaronstonebeat]

A terrible story indeed! A thing that catches my eye is somebody writing '... the former Deep Purple cofounder'. Blackmore is cofounder of Deep Purple, he still is and will be for all eternity. Don't they have editors at Loudwire?

[@AllanGildea]

Man, I hate to see people smashing up guitars. ( But always happy to see your cheeky chops, Max. ) What a rotten story re the scammers.

[@jcatkins5536]

Good lookin' out, Max.

[@micolsen9824]

Scammers get off too easy.

[@Adrenalsky2]

Sadly she passed away last month.

[@sgt.grinch3299]

Never happen. I don’t let people near me or my cash. Retired and happy.

[@R8DRBeagle]

I almost got scammed by a guy posing as Peter Frampton. Caught on when I asked him about his current tour.

[@DoctorEnigma01]

You didn’t catch on when he said he was Peter Frampton?

[@deanaf]

These scams work for two reasons. People are stupid and greedy. Donate money so she can buy magic beans? Don't reward stupidity.

[@No1414body]

Same thing happened to my mom, they stole her money 5 dollars at a time

[@tomdecuca3627]

This poor woman and her family. Yes, if he did it to her, he did it to others. Too bad Ritchie Blackmore's name is connected to it as well.

[@SparrowHawk76]

There was an update on the fundraising page. Unfortunately, Valerie passed away on September 30th. 😔

[@bryansimmons4550]

When these scammers contact me pretending to be friends, I ask them "Where do you know me from?" I also check their profile. The sad part for this lady's family is that the scammer may be in a foreign country where the UK police can't touch him. Make sure you check for proper grammar and spelling in any suspect message. That's usually the main red flag right there.

[@bpabustan]

Max, maybe the positive thing to do is all your subscribers can donate at least one dollar. Valerie could have recover her money.

[@rockinchairboogie3222]

A great and sad video, that's why I NEVER click on links from FB.

[@jamesjames2070]

This also happened in the 1970s a grifter pretended to be Blackmore and was able to steal from people

[@mhsandifer]

Want to help someone while avoiding scams? Don't believe anybody on the internets.

[@arpiavisiontv7088]

Thats screwed up! I aleays get these scammers acting like Vivian Campbell(my favorite guitarrist of all times for me). These guys always try to make me buy gift cards and such. When i ask them technical questions like guitar gear, they always get it wrong. Very shameful to take advantage of other folks humbleness :(

[@jamesbossingham9694]

And why didn't Ritchie himself get involved if they were old friends??

[@lonesurvivingcourier1670]

Someone on Instagram once tried to get scam me by pretending to be Toby Keith (before the real thing passed away.) I'm poor so he got nothing 😅

[@robertburgess5273]

I had someone hit me up on social media claiming to be the Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain.

[@officialdandaman]

Aloha, I remember buying him a cup of coffee & a bagel at Starbucks yrs ago as he said he left his wallet in his hotel room ☕️🥯

[@douglasbrown9789]

Never ever, ever give anyone a single penny until you talk to them face to face. So if you can't come to see me in person or video call me, then you're ass out. Nuff said

[@gl3605]

*Ritchie

[@wickedbishop]

Blackmore did scam me out of a ticket when I went to see rainbow and they played 10 minutes and Blackmore had a hissy and walked off the stage but I did get to see Iron Maiden there first tour here in the states and became a huge fan and made the concert totally cool

[@xamislimelight8965]

A famous person asking for money is always a scam, 100%.

[@DoctorEnigma01]

Unless it’s a former child actor

[@xamislimelight8965]

@DoctorEnigma01 I'll refer you back to "Always"

[@Someguy-j9e]

I work in banking I see it all day long

[@misterdark6466]

Scammers Facebook saying my family member died and I'm giving away their guitars so they end up in a loving guitar players hands. It horrible. One idiot got on my Marketplace account telling me his daughter died and I should feel sorry for him and sell my gear to him for pennies on the $$. He had a new FB profile. I get alot of Hispanic responses with Colorado being so bad with gang members I'm suspicious that it a gang member wanting to rip me off. Be careful in any situation selling gear or buying gear or responding to stories like this.

[@unrulyarcana2394]

Someone used our Moms images and profile info to make scam accounts three @#$%! times... Even tried to scam us with it. She had died a few months before the first one. So, thankfully, everyone was pretty sure it wasn't her.

[@allboutthemojo]

Always hide your friends list on FB and set your pictures privacy to friends only. I'm still surprised to see so many people having their pictures open to public view

[@neroxgilverine9269]

I'm surprised anyone still has a Facebook profile.

[@allboutthemojo]

@neroxgilverine9269 it's a better platform for close friends and family than others.

[@danrunnoft6642]

Hopefully the fund raiser isn't the real scam.

[@benjamin.j.boatman]

Saul Goodman scammed me out of a Ritchie Blackmore guitar

[@LemonFacebluesguitar]

The sad part is you don't even want to contribute money to the go fund me cause unfortunately that could be a scam Aswell its best just to stay vigilant and keep your money in your bank account and just send out a prayer and a share

[@Angelo-fo8de]

Well DIO said many times Blackmore was a complete asshole ! Well documented. Personally I think Blackmore has got some tasty riffs for sure .

[@sethbell6254]

This could be used as a scam in itself.

[@docf.n.t.2310]

Have you ever heard of the "Brazen Bull" ? Scammers and thieves who steal from cancer patients, or sick children should all get a ride, ... on national prime time TV. Let a few of these jerks see (and HEAR) this, and this style of crime would end over night !!! Tell these jokers when they're caught : "Bring your own matches !" !!!

[@user-gs2nq3rs8l]

Who is Ritchie Blackmore

[@strato-dave]

Yeah and as long as facebook, twitter, or whatever social media can push ads to ya they don't care if it's a scam or not. They do nothing to try and stop stuff like this and at times seem to encourage it. I'ts a sad sad world we live in.

[@hadleymanmusic]

5:30 or by clicking the link you actually gave permission for all your data on your phone to accessed

[@jpsilverplaylists]

Dude in recent weeks I've had messages from "James Blunt's manager", "Emilio Estevez" and even Justin Hawkins. The james blunt manager was quite poorly done and english was terrible, but the Emilio Estevez guy actually been spending a couple of years building the profile with photos and regular posts etc from the look of things. Luckily I'm just immediately suspicious of everyone and didn't take the bait, but like you say, some of these guys can be quite sophisticated and let you talk yourself into it. Bloody assholes, makes me so angry that people take advantage of others like that :( Love the channel BTW, thanks for the cool videos!

[@GeezerNerdRox]

When anyone…and I mean ANYONE asks for money via Apple gift cards….yeah….🤔time to flush that toilet !!!! 🚽 🔥🎸🤘🎶🔥😆

[@djmeltdown1418]

I really feel bad for the woman. But, on the other hand she didn't question having to by gift cards?

[@ianinindy1165]

Don't click to links you don't know

[@jamespruett2849]

Gift cards should be banned with AI they can take money off them the moment they are loaded

[@mikescott5655]

First Red Flag for me is the Apple Gift Cards

[@LemonFacebluesguitar]

That's literally the movie bee hive with Jason statom

[@Steve.Cutler]

The gift card thing would be all the red flag i would need to not get scammed.

[@ErickvdK]

Why is there a phone number of a suicide hotline under this video? 😮

[@hadleymanmusic]

Yea I had the mark st.vincent scammer tell me hes in germany filmin and his maids got the kids back home and bills are due............. Needless I have none to help. He was a fake profile and dissapeared not long after

[@fuzzcous]

Found the topic too morbid.

[@LuminaryCursorem]

If anyone ask for gift cards without you gifting it to them, its a scam. She was in fact not street smart...

[@rodmorrison47]

Nice victim blaming there. Even a fairly streetwise 81 year old could fall for a scam like this especially if they're terminally ill and wanting something good to cling onto.

[@cedwardmassey]

New kind of #PigButchering, I guess....horrible!

[@mikal]

Strangely, this video has a warning about the s*****e hotline right below it. And this video has nothing to do with that subject.

[@Jeffadamsandonthisrockwerock]

Greedy or scammers what's the difference.like you

[@ianaintsaying1625]

IMO if you get scammed it's your own damn fault.

[@kmetal83]

Red shirt

[@BillyZakk]

Talking about scams, I heard Hardluck kings took a lot of peoples money and when out of business few months ago