Gardeners' World star Monty Don has taken to Instagram to warn his followers about fake accounts posing as him.
Alongside an adorable photo of his beloved dog Ned, who was curled up in his bed, the TV presenter urged his fans to report the accounts. Describing the sweet photo, he wrote: "Putting on one's best face," adding: "By the way it has been brought to my attention that there are fake Monty Don accounts out there. Ignore or report them.
"This is the only (public) one (and I never accept followers on the private account that I do not personally know)."
© Monty Don/InstagramMonty's fans took to the comments section to react to his warning, with one person writing: "Yes there is a fake one again starting to follow me, I know it's not you Monty," while another added: "Sigh, what a world, what a world. I have to delete fake accounts from following me nearly every day."
A third fan commented: "I've spent the last five minutes reporting and blocking spam."
Other followers couldn't help but comment on the sweet photo of Ned, with one person penning: "How could you not love this pup!" while another remarked on the position the pooch was laying in, adding: "Who doesn't love an upside down dog!! A sign of pure happiness and security!!"
A third shared a sweet message reminding the star of his late golden retriever Nigel, who was rarely seen without a tennis ball nearby. "The ever-present tennis ball. Bringing back memories of a special boy," they wrote.
© Photo: TwitterNigel sadly passed away in 2020 after suddenly falling ill. "To the end he was happy, healthy and his usual calm, lovely self," the presenter wrote on Instagram at the time.
"He slipped quietly away with no pain or suffering and is now buried in the garden with lots of tennis balls."
Monty often remembers his beloved Nigel on social media and in May, shared a snap of his late companion in honour of his birthday. The post included a photo showing his furry friend sleeping next to a personalised tennis ball, alongside another of the golden retriever happily standing in a field. He wrote in the caption: "This chap would have been 15 today. #Nigel."
Monty has three dogs in total: a Yorkshire terrier named Patti, and two golden retrievers named Nell and Ned.
© InstagramREAD: How Gardeners' World star Monty Don's marriage was affected by illness
MORE: All you need to know about Gardeners' World star Monty Don - wife, net worth, illness and more
Ned is the most recent addition to Monty's Herefordshire home, having joined the family in September last year.
The trio often join Monty while he works away in his Longmeadow garden. Opening up about his lifelong love for dogs, he wrote on his website: "I have lived with dogs all my life and so it is absolutely natural to me that wherever I am in the garden I should be accompanied by a dog or two. It is their garden as much as mine or any other members of the family."
© InstagramDescribing how well-behaved his pooches are, he added: "Something that I take for granted is that, by and large, they do absolutely no damage and respect the garden completely. They (rarely) dig holes or crash through the flower beds. They do treat the long paths as bowling alleys down which they career in chase of the ball that we are obliged to throw, but it is harmless enough."
