Martin Lewis issues warning over ‘frightening’ scam using deepfake video of him
Martin Lewis has warned of a ‘frightening’ new investment scam using a deepfake video of him.
The Money Saving Expert urged authorities to ‘step up’ and stop internet giants from publishing such content, saying people will lose money and ‘lives will be ruined’.
Highlighting the sophisticated new con on Twitter, he wrote: ‘This is a scam by criminals trying to steal money.
‘This is frightening, it’s the first deep fake video scam I’ve seen with me in it. Govt & regulators must step up to stop big tech publishing such dangerous fakes. People’ll lose money and it’ll ruin lives.’
The AI-generated clip of Mr Lewis purports to show him backing an investment scheme by the social media platform’s owner, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
In it, the deepfake consumer champion says: ‘Elon Musk presented his project in which he has already invested more than $3 billion.
‘Musk’s new project opens up great investment opportunities for British citizens. No project has ever given such opportunities to residents of the country.’
Mr Lewis, founder of financial advice website MoneySavingExpert.com and host of The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV, which sees him offer advice to members of the public on topics such as the cost-of living-crisis and rising household bills, sued Facebook for defamation back in 2019 after the social media site published scam ads featuring his image.
As part of an out of court settlement, Facebook pledged to create a reporting tool and donate £3 million to Citizens Advice for an anti-scam project.
He has long campaigned against bogus ads using his face to lure users and wants tech giants to be held responsible under new laws.
Speaking to MPs on the Draft Online Safety Bill Joint Committee in 2021, the consumer champion became visibly emotional as he described how lives were being ‘destroyed’ by fraudsters using his image in scam adverts online.
He detailed several scam victims, including a woman with cancer who lost thousands of pounds earmarked for her granddaughter’s wedding, after seeing an advert falsely claiming to be endorsed by him.
‘She said “It’s Martin sponsoring it, it must be all right”’,’ Mr Lewis said. ‘It was a scam, and she lost tens of thousands. She lost £15,000 trying to get back the money initially lost.’
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