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Martin Lewis has issued a warning saying it ‘nobody is safe’ after a deepfaked video of him used by scammers saw a man conned out of £76,000.
Des Healey, a kitchen fitter from Brighton, was tricked into handing over his life savings to a bogus bitcoin investment scheme that did not really exist.
He first became aware of the scam in August 2023, after spotting a fake ad on Facebook which used an AI-generated video of Martin Lewis who appeared to be endorsing an investment scheme by Elon Musk.
Sharing his story on Good Morning Britain, Des explained how he had been tricked by the fake video. ‘If you listen to the voice and look how the mouth moves, that normally gives it away.
Martin Lewis says he has the ‘weird accolade’ of being the most deepfaked man in Britain
(Picture: ITV)
‘But at the time, obviously I wasn’t studying that. I just got Martin Lewis saying that normally he doesn’t cover these [investments] but this time, this is such a good thing.’
He added: ‘Now I feel how stupid I was, how blind I was. You know, I’m normally the type of person that would tell other people that doesn’t sound right, but these people… Someone once described it as being under their spell, and I think that was probably the best term that he could have possibly said. I knew, in a way, something wasn’t right, but I hoped that it was okay.’
As a self-employed tradesperson, Des says he viewed the advert as a way to earn ‘a few extra bob’ before Christmas during a slow time for his business.
After responding to the advert with his contact details, Des was contacted within 10 minutes by scammers who put him through to a man who claimed to have over 20 years’ experience as a financial adviser.
The scammer then made Des set up an account with e-money firm Revolut, and told him to deposit an initial ‘investment’ of £1,000.
This investment soon jumped to £5,000, which was the entirety of Des’ life savings.
‘To get the £5,000 back, you had to invest £10,000,’ Des explains, ‘I wasn’t allowed to withdraw anything until the day that he tells me I can’.
Des Healey says he felt his scammers had ‘put him undera spell’ (Picture: ITV)
Nevertheless, he continued to pump money into the bogus scheme, taking out four loans totalling £70,000, until he was snapped out of it by his son Derren, who threatened to call the police.
Derren said: ‘It was like seeing someone you know in a toxic relationship, as an outsider. You can’t understand how they can’t see what you’re seeing. So that was like our dispute, and then eventually we were just having a conversation… and I think the penny just dropped.’
Des eventually managed to get two of the loans cancelled, but still owes £20,000 plus interest of almost …read more
Source:: Metro
