A father of four who lost £140,000 after falling for a deepfake Martin Lewis video on Facebook has criticised the social media giant for failing to prevent such scams. Wayne Luxon, 43, from Taunton in Somerset, said he entered a 'dark place' after being tricked into investing in a clone website promoted by an AI-generated advertisement, only to see his account balance plummet to zero. He is now participating in a multi-billion pound group legal action against Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, accusing the company of allowing fraudulent adverts on its platforms.
How the Scam Unfolded
Luxon's ordeal began in 2020 when he encountered a video on Facebook claiming he could earn extra income by investing as little as £250 in cryptocurrency. 'It looked totally legitimate,' he said. 'When my £250 turned into £500, I wanted to take it out so that I knew I could get money back out.' After successfully withdrawing funds, he believed the opportunity was genuine and added three further payments from his savings, totalling £16,000.
'I was watching this online platform and seeing the money go up and up and you think 'oh my God', I'll leave it in there - why wouldn't I?' he recalled. When his fictitious account showed over £800,000, he was asked to pay a tax based on a percentage of the withdrawal amount. The self-employed father took out personal loans and raided his Barclays business account to gather more than £100,000 for the supposed tax.
On the day the transfer was promised, he checked his balance. 'The platform was live but everything went to zero,' he said. 'I looked at and thought 'oh my God'. It sent me to a really dark place - I nearly lost myself, if it wasn't for my wife being so strong, though obviously I got called a few names. It was horrible. I was stressing really badly about it, and I was worried I would lose the house. I was having to earn so much money so I could pay these loans off, nearly £800 a month.'
Legal Action Against Meta
Barclays agreed to refund half of his initial investment but refused to return any of the fake tax he paid. By joining the group action against Meta, Luxon hopes to recover more of his losses. 'Facebook should be stopping these adverts straight away. It's not fair to the people that get conned into investing, and once you click on one advert there's another and another. They are constantly coming up on your feed,' he said.
Another victim, Jakub Siwiak, 51, from Worksop, lost nearly £15,000 after responding to a scam advert on Facebook last June. The crane operator and supervisor was left paying £1,300 a month in loan repayments he could barely afford. A criminal posing as an investment broker had coached him through fake investments after Facebook's algorithms directed him to the advert. 'I got scammed because of Facebook. A lot of adverts were showing up, and that's all done by Facebook,' Siwiak said. 'When something is suspect, they should take it off and give fair play to all of its customers, which we are, even if we don't pay.'
Group Action Details
The legal claim is being launched by law firms Humphries Kerstetter and Richardson Hartley Law, who aim to 'recoup the billions of pounds that are lost each year in online scams' through the two social media platforms. The Mirror has approached Meta for comment.
