NatWest’s annual Celebrity Scam Super League features the highest value scam cases in which a celebrity image has been used to lure consumers into making a bogus investment.
Top findings
Take a look at the celebrities who top the list, and the scams used by fraudsters:
1. This year Dragon’s Den star Peter Jones tops the list. Over £285k was lost due to a promotional article featuring an interview with Peter Jones which looked like a genuine newspaper interview.
2. Sir David Attenborough - £275k was lost following an advert on Twitter that featured an image of David Attenborough alongside text falsely claiming he makes £125k per month from stocks and shares related to gold, natural gas and oil.
3. Piers Morgan – £232k was lost to an investment supposedly endorsed by Piers Morgan.
4. Jeff Bezos – £158k was lost due an advert on Google for an investment opportunity promoted by Jeff Bezos on a new Amazon trading platform for crypto currency.
5. Martin Lewis – £149k was lost to a scam advert on Facebook featuring Martin Lewis, in relation to Crypto currency investment.
6. Elon Musk - £42k was lost following a crypto opportunity with a supposed endorsement from Elon Musk.
7. Bradley Walsh - £10k was lost due to an advert posing to be from Bradley Walsh, stating he had made enough money to buy houses and cars, with an explicit recommendation for a company which turned out to be fraudulent.
Did you know?
Investment scams cost consumers £114.1m in 2022 according to UK Finance, down 34% on the previous year. NatWest continues to invest in raising awareness and prevention.
