Martin Lewis issues urgent warning to Taylor Swift, Rod Stewart and 17 other celebrity fans

Martin Lewis has issued a new scam warning after topping the list of the most commonly used famous faces to trick people into parting with personal or financial details in fake online advertisements. The consumer champion said topping the list was the “worst compliment” he’s ever had after analysis by MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE.com) discovered that his image was used more than 1,150 times by fraudsters.

MSE.com analysed data from Action Fraud, looking at how frequently public figures were mentioned in scams reported to it in 2022 and 2023. It found that Taylor Swift, Rod Stewart, Lewis Capaldi, Adele and Holly Willoughby were among the people whose celebrity profiles have been commonly misused in scam adverts.

The findings indicate that high-profile people from a range of sectors, including entertainment, business, politics and royalty, have had their names misused. The King, Prince Harry, Jeremy Clarkson and former prime minister Rishi Sunak were among those to appear in the list compiled by the consumer website.

Action Fraud supplied reported scams data based on a list of celebrities provided by MSE.com. To generate that list, it asked on social media for people to tell them who they had seen appear in scam adverts. The response was huge, with over 800 replies naming 165 public figures they had seen in scams.

MSE.com believes this is likely to cover the vast majority of scam adverts featuring celebrities in the UK and certainly all of the big ones. The founder of MSE.com, Martin Lewis, topped the list in the analysis of the most featured public figures mentioned in reports to Action Fraud.

MSE.com said Action Fraud data indicates victims have reported losing more than £20 million to scams misusing the financial guru’s profile in the past two years. The biggest individual reported loss attributed to a scam featuring Martin Lewis was £500,000.

Commenting on the findings, Martin said: “It’s likely that the criminals pumping out these scam ads effectively use their own in-house dark-web digital marketing teams, researching which celebrities and advert types get the best click through rates, and honing the way they work to be able to attract more victims. Almost certainly they will be collecting data on each public figure’s power to draw people in and how many people who respond to a celeb in an advert, then go through to part with the money.

"That’s why this top 20 matters. If someone is on this list, they’re likely tried and tested by scammers, and therefore will keep reappearing. So, while it’s important to be wary of the potential for all online adverts to be a scam, especially those with celebrity figures - if it has one of these 20, you should double and triple check it’s legit via independent trusted sources before making any contact or commitment.

“And if it’s an ad with me in, it’s always a scam, as I don’t do adverts. Topping this list is about the worst compliment I’ve ever had. I find it deeply frustrating that after six years of campaigning, having both successfully sued Facebook, and lobbied to get scam adverts covered by the Online Safety Act, the online advertising market is still a wild west.”

He added: “Ofcom's draft proposals for the new laws on paid-for fraudulent advertising aren't expected until early 2025 and won’t come into force until 2026. Even then, these won't include regulation of the full online advertising supply chain, including display ads, which were due to be included as part of the long-awaited Online Advertising Programme.

"The new Government has promised to ensure that tech companies have a clear obligation, and a clear financial incentive, to work with banks to prevent scams, identify fraudulent transactions and support victims. We’ll be watching closely to see if it delivers."

Top 20 celebrity profiles being used by scammers

Here are the top 20 high-profile figures whose identities have been misused by scammers, according to the research using Action Fraud data.

1. Martin Lewis - 32.4% (1,151 scams)

2. Taylor Swift - 21.7% (771 scams)

3. Elon Musk - 13.9% (492 scams)

4. Adele - 2.7% (97 scams)

5. Holly Willoughby - 2.3% (80 scams)

6. Jeremy Clarkson - 2.0% (72 scams)

7. Mark Zuckerberg - 1.5% (53 scams)

8. Johnny Depp - 1.1% (41 scams)

9. Keanu Reeves - 1.1% (41 scams)

10. Ed Sheeran - 1.1% (40 scams)

11. Peter Jones - 0.9% (32 scams)

12. King Charles - 0.9% (32 scams)

13. Phillip Schofield - 0.9% (32 scams)

14. Richard Branson - 0.8% (29 scams)

15. Rishi Sunak - 0.8% (28 scams)

16. Rod Stewart - 0.7% (26 scams)

17. Simon Cowell - 0.6% (23 scams)

18. Prince Harry - 0.6% (22 scams)

19. Lewis Capaldi - 0.6% (21 scams)

20. James Martin - 0.6% (20 scams)

MSE.com said the research covers all mentions, including where more than one person is mentioned.

Fans of Taylor Swift have lost out on an estimated £1 million since UK tickets for her tour went on sale last July, according to data published by Lloyds Bank earlier this year.

If someone believes they have been scammed, they should contact their bank and Police Scotland via 101. Scots can also contact the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about an online scam.

The 159 Scheme

Many banks are taking part in a scheme that allows people to get in touch simply by dialling 159 if they receive suspect contact that could be a scam.

Banks taking part in the 159 scheme include:

• Monzo

• Bank of Scotland

• Barclays

• Co-operative Bank

• First Direct

• Halifax

• HSBC

• Lloyds Bank

• Metro Bank

• Nationwide Building Society

• NatWest

• Royal Bank of Scotland

• Santander

• Starling

• Tide

• TSB

• Ulster Bank

A full info on what to do if you think you have been scammed in MSE.com’s 30+ ways to stop scams guide here.

Join our Daily Record Money WhatsApp community here to receive alerts on the latest money news from benefits to shopping deals.