The celebrity ad scams you're most likely to see
Fraudsters continue to use stolen photos and AI-generated videos of celebrities to scam victims out of thousands of pounds.
Some celebrities are currently more popular with scammers, most likely because fraudsters choose famous faces that are trustworthy to those they’re trying to scam.
Fake ads can appear on social media platforms, mobile apps and in advertising banners on websites.
Here are some common celebrity scams currently doing the rounds – find out what makes them so convincing and how to spot them.
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Celebrity scam adverts
1. Fake Martin Lewis investment ads
According to Action Fraud, scam ads involving Martin Lewis were the most commonly reported in 2022 and 2023.
Fake ads using photos – and even fake videos – usually promote scam investment schemes and appear as adverts on some websites, in combination with fake news stories.
Martin Lewis continues to stress that he never does online adverts or brand partnerships, so any ads involving him are always a scam.
2. Dodgy Dragon’s Den-backed products
Long-serving Dragon’s Den entrepreneurs Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden have been falsely used to promote scams for years, and Which? reported on another round of fake diet pill ads fronted by Deborah Meaden last year.
Which? has also seen Steven Bartlett, another Dragon, appearing in fake adverts online. Scammers are using his image to falsely promote suspicious get-rich-quick schemes and quick-fix supplements that could appear plausible.
Scam product ads will also often claim the product they’re promoting has appeared on the show or has been endorsed by the Dragons, when this isn't true. Scammers take advantage of the fact there have been hundreds of episodes of the show, hoping their victims will just take their word for it.
3. Phoney popstar endorsements
Fake ads featuring music stars – such as Taylor Swift, Adele and Ed Sheeran – promote investment cons and fake competitions.
Sometimes, these fake competitions intend to harvest your data and contact information so fraudsters can target you with further scams. They may charge a fee to enter a competition that doesn’t exist, such as contests for sold-out concert tickets or VIP and meet-and-greet experiences.
One recent example was a fake video of Taylor Swift posted on social media, promoting a fake Le Creuset cookware giveaway.
The video instructed viewers to enter a competition by completing an online survey, which asked for personal information. Victims were then asked to pay a shipping fee to receive their prize, which both conned them out of cash and stole their payment information.
4. Fake advice from Elon Musk
Billionaire Elon Musk continues to be a firm favourite used by scammers to peddle cryptocurrency and other scam investments, as well as fake competitions.
Using Elon Musk as the face of scam adverts could be convincing because of his support for cryptocurrency, and his unorthodox approach to business and finance means it can be difficult to tell the truth from fiction when people see content about him.
Musk’s companies, Tesla and SpaceX, are also often mentioned or impersonated in scam adverts.
AI making celebrity scams harder to spot
Typically, scammers carefully curate photos of celebrities to feature in fake ads, but there’s increasing use of ‘deepfake’ videos to convince victims the ad is genuine.
Deepfakes are realistic-looking fake videos of well-known personalities that have been created by artificial intelligence software.
Using AI, scammers can manipulate a genuine video to make the celebrity do and say what they want. At a quick glance, when scrolling through your social media feeds, these videos can appear real.
Facebook and Instagram owner Meta recently announced that it intends to fight back against these scams on its platforms by using its own AI-powered software to detect and remove this kind of fraudulent content.
Meta says it will also begin using facial recognition technology to verify the identity of people using its social accounts, in an attempt to prevent criminal activity.
- Read more: deepfake videos impersonate BBC and others
How to avoid and report celebrity ad scams
When you see an advert online featuring a celebrity endorsement, there are a few questions you should ask yourself:
- Is the celebrity posting from their official profile or account? Or has the advert been posted by a genuine brand account? You can’t always trust a verification tick, but a quick check of the account posting an advert can usually confirm if it’s a copycat account.
- Are you being asked to hand over money or personal information? Don't be tempted to give this information away without verifying the authenticity of the advert.
- Does a celebrity in an online video seem out of character? Any celebrity video directly telling you to buy something or send them your money is unusual. You can also take a closer look at the person in the video for jerky, unnatural facial movements, or speech that sounds strange.
If you’ve been conned into buying something or transferring money after seeing a dodgy advert online, first let your bank or card provider know what’s happened – they may be able to block payments. You can also report it to Action Fraud, or the police if you live in Scotland.
If you’ve spotted fake ads online using celebrity images or doctored video footage, you can also report it to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
