Martin Lewis, the founder of Money Saving Expert, became emotional during an appearance on ITV's This Morning as he discussed the devastating impact of deepfake scams. The financial expert, known for his consumer advice, appeared to have tears in his eyes while speaking with hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard about a scam that targeted an elderly woman.
Martin Lewis on deepfake scams
Lewis, who features in 43% of all scam ads according to Ben Shephard, expressed his frustration over the persistence of such fraud. 'I sued Facebook in 2019,' he said. 'I settled for £3 million to set up a new anti-scam charity and a tool to report scam ads. It hasn't worked. I campaigned for scam adverts to be included in the Online Safety Act, which we got three years ago.'
He emphasised that scam ads cause 'enormous damage,' not just financially but also to people's mental health and self-esteem. He then asked to read a post he had shared on social media, which detailed a heartbreaking story.
The victim's story
'I was, without any exaggeration, in tears on the back of this,' Lewis said. He read the message from a 78-year-old woman who had been scammed by a deepfake video of him. 'She wrote, 'I invested, Martin, with Quantum when you first announced it on TV.' I, of course, haven't announced it on TV. It was a deepfake AI video of me on social media.'
The woman explained that she had been convinced to invest, believing it was a genuine opportunity to buy a flat. She was passed to a 'nice man' who asked for more money, and she continued to pay, eventually losing everything. 'She now has nothing left to help her in the rest of her life with her disability and no flat because of it, because she trusted me,' Lewis said, visibly upset.
'That was what brought me to tears. I fundamentally wish I could tell you that that was a terrible, shocking one-off and not a regular, daily occurrence,' he added.
Response from the government
The discussion continued with Ashley James and Nick Ferrari, who highlighted government efforts to tackle fraud. 'The government's saying, we're taking action across government to tackle fraud, backing this with £79 million this year to protect consumers, disrupt criminals, and stop fraudsters targeting the public online,' Ferrari said.
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV.
