Martin Lewis warns about ‘liar’ Facebook posts and ads using his name – here’s why you should avoid them
The money saving expert warned against a “disgusting” cloud trading scheme that is luring customers into investing money
MARTIN Lewis has warned shoppers against a host of scams firms and Facebook ads that are using his name to lure them into investing money in dodgy schemes.
In a passionate rant, he accused the companies of trying to leech off his reputation and sell customers things with an implied recommendation, which is an "absolute lie".
Mr Lewis insisted he never does Facebook adverts, adding that charities are usually the only ones allowed to use his name and they should always link back to his website .
“If you don’t see it [the link], don’t trust it, it isn’t true,” he added.
Particularly, Mr Lewis warned against a “disgusting” cloud trading scheme that is luring customers into investing money into a company that he is supposedly backing.
The scam was featured in a Facebook advert linking to what looked like an article from the BBC.
The article claims that anybody could earn hundreds of pounds by just signing up to a programme called Cloud Trader.
“It’s a con, it’s a scam. It’s about binary trading, it is a brilliant way to lose money do not touch it, do not sniff it so not go near it,” Mr Lewis warned.
Other websites such as the one from Right Quote, a life insurance company, use Mr Lewis’ picture to encourage readers into buying insurance.
The money saving expert said: “There are also sites that use my picture in a clever way without mentioning my name for boiler cover incentives, heating incentives, PPI companies.
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“Again they do not have my permission, they are not a recommendation. If you want to know what I think come to this website, do not read elsewhere.”
Right Quote was not available for comment when contacted by the Sun Online.
Facebook posts that appear harmless at first are often changed later on to phish for users’ personal data, or encourage them to download malware.
Earlier this year, Facebook published a list of warning signs to look out for when deciding a news story is genuine.
These include things like checking the article date and the website address.
The social network has its own security page with regular updates about .
How to protect yourself from scams
FIRSTLY, remember that if something seems too good to be true, it normally is.
- Check brands are “verified” on Facebook and Twitter pages – this means the company will have a blue tick on their profile
- Look for grammatical and spelling errors; fraudsters are notoriously bad at writing proper English. If you receive a message from a “friend” informing you of a freebie, consider whether it’s written in your friend’s normal style.
- If you’re invited to click on an URL, hover over the link to see the address it will take you to – does it look genuine?
- To be on the really safe side, don’t click on unsolicited links in messages, even if they appear to come from a trusted contact.
- Be careful when opening email attachments too. Fraudsters are increasingly attaching files, usually PDFs or spreadsheets, which contain dangerous malware.
More articles about recent scams and how to avoid them
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