Sammy Hagar responds to hoax story about 'lookalike' scammer being arrested
The man was apparently pretending to be the Red Rocker
Last updated 24th Oct 2025
Sammy Hagar has responded to a viral – and completely bogus – story about a man pretending to be The Red Rocker to swindle people out of money.
On Sunday 19th October, the Mount Vernon II News & Rumors Facebook shared a mugshot of a man they named as Ronnie Putnam, and the accompanying blurb claimed the ‘lookalike’ had been impersonating Sammy Sagar in order to cash fake cheques.
‘A local man was taken into custody yesterday after allegedly impersonating rock legend Sammy Hagar at several local businesses, including two banks and a vape shop,’ the page wrote.
‘Sammy Hagar Police say Ronnie Putnam, 58, of Summersville, walked into multiple establishments claiming to be “the real Red Rocker” and demanding to open accounts under the name Sammy Hagar Enterprises, LLC.’
They even quoted a witness, who was purported to have said: “He said he was on tour but needed to cash a royalty check. He was wearing red sunglasses and smelled faintly of margarita mix, so I thought it was actually him.”
Incredibly, several news outlets believed the report was authentic and they ran articles about the (fake) impersonator’s scam, which quickly went viral. Readers nicknamed Putnam as ‘Scammy Hagar’.
Proof that you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the Internet, Mount Vernon police reached out to AXS TV to refute the story and they revealed that no such person was arrested.
Inundated with messages from people about the fake story, Van Halen legend Sammy Hagar has now posted a video response alongside the caption, ‘Who knows with AI these days if this is real or not, but every person I know has sent it to me, and anyone that would fall for this guy saying he's the Red Rocker probably couldn't name one of my songs.’
Taking things with good humour, a smiling Sammy says in his video: “I just woke up and I’m feeling just about as beat up as I can be these days at my age.”
Sharing the photo of ‘Ronnie Putnam’, he continues: “Look at this guy over here. This guy, he says he’s Sammy Hagar?! (laughs) Hey, I guess it’s the season. Happy Halloween everyone!”
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