A 75-year-old woman has lost more than £30,000 to a cryptocurrency scam featuring faked quotes from Dragons’ Den star Deborah Meaden.
The case highlights how social media sites and search engines are not protecting Brits from scams, according to Which?, the consumer watchdog.
Jill, 75, is a retired psychotherapist living in Cambridgeshire.
In 2020 she saw an advert on Facebook encouraging her to invest in cryptocurrency .
She trusted the ad, because it was on a legitimate social media platform and featured quotes from Meaden, a well-known entrepreneur and investor.
But the advert was a scam - and Meaden had nothing to do with it in real life.
After clicking on the advert, Jill was directed to an online form to input her personal details. She immediately got a phone call from a representative for the company involved.
The representative persuaded Jill to invest £250, after assuring her of the company’s credentials.
Over several weeks, Jill was persuaded to transfer increasing amounts of money to the representative.
She was also instructed to download remote access software in order to help her ‘with making further investments’.
During one remote access session, the representative told her that she had double clicked on the wrong figures, and put her entire investment at risk.
Overcome with a sense of dread, Jill believed she had been scammed.
Jill has reported this to her bank but so far has not got the money back.
She told Which?: “I usually consider myself a good judge of people, but was completely taken in. The constant phone calls overwhelmed my awareness of the risks involved.
“I believe that I have been put on a 'suckers list’ as I have received other calls offering to get my money back, if I invest yet more money, and from other cryptocurrency companies.
“I have lost my life savings and have had to take an equity release out on my home. It has been very stressful.
“I urge Facebook to be more vigilant, and vet any companies allowed to advertise. I hope that Facebook uses its vast resources to root out scammers to avoid others suffering devastating consequences."
Yesterday The Mirror reported that Brits are losing tens of millions of pounds a year to online frauds - and are often lured in by celebrity endorsements that later turn out to be fake.
Around 300,000 people every year sign up to these frauds, which often pretend to be advertised by celebs like comedian Russell Brand, survivalist Bear Grylls and Dame Esther Rantzen.
Which? said Jill's case, and others, show that tougher laws are needed to protect consumers.
The consumer watchdog said the Online Safety Bill, currently going through parliament, needs to include paid-for advertising to help do this.
Which?, alongside online scam victims, MPs and consumer and business organisations, is today calling on the government to do just this.
The group's research found that four in 10 (43%) consumers are unhappy with the protection from scams provided by social media platforms and search engines.
Only 20% felt protected.
An estimated 9million people (17%) have been targeted by a scam on social media, Which? said.
A further survey of more than 2,000 consumers found that eight in 10 (79%) people said they have seen or been targeted by a scam.
Recent ONS figures suggest that fraud has increased by 36 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels and Which? previously found that nearly one in 10 people (9%) have fallen victim to scam adverts on social media or search engines.
Which? director of policy and advocacy Rocio Concha said: “It is no surprise that consumers do not feel adequately protected by social media sites and search engines.
"These companies have some of the most sophisticated technology in the world, and yet they are not doing enough to protect their users from online scams on their sites.
“The government must include paid-for advertising in the Online Safety Bill so that consumers finally get the protection they need from fraudsters who will stop at nothing to target potential victims online.”
