Martin Lewis is one of the most trusted names in money, if not the country overall; a quality scammers are unfortunately all too keen to take advantage of.
For years, the Money Saving Expert (MSE) founder has warned over fake ads using his likeness to promote dodgy cryptocurrency or investment schemes.
Now however, it seems these fraudsters are going after WASPI women;those born in the 1950s, who have been affected by a decision to increase the State Pension age.
Women Against State Pension Inequality campaigners argue that changes were poorly communicated, and have called on successive governments to provide redress to the millions of women impacted.
And following an announcement from Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall in December where these recommendations were rejected, there has been a ‘steep rise’ in the number of scams targeting this group — including a hoax ‘Martin Lewis WASPI compensation calculator’.
In a GMB interview this morning, Martin explained: ‘It’s completely fake, nothing to do with me. And what they’re doing is they’re purporting you can put your money in and apply for compensation that does not exist.
‘Plainly, the compensation from the state does not exist. It is not happening at the moment. But many women have been desperate on the back of this. They’re given this crutch that they want to grab hold of to go and apply for the compensation.’
According to the personal finance guru, some of these sites can seem harmless at first glance, since they don’t always ask for money. But not only will they never pay out, they’re designed to take your personal data ‘so they can scam and target you in other ways,’ meaning ‘you might find yourself the victim of many other scams going forward.’
He added: ‘When I hear of people losing hundreds of thousands of pounds because they trusted “me”, that’s what really is desperately upsetting. I’ve spent my life trying to campaign to make people better with their finances and protect vulnerable people, and it is absolutely devastating.’
How to spot the scams
Martin urged: ‘Be incredibly careful, don’t click advertising or other links on social media, unless it is from a validated trusted source.’
MSE also advised people to look out for signs like incorrect spelling or grammar and warnings about a ‘last chance’ or ‘final deadline’.
‘Scammers will often rush you into making decisions, so if you’re being asked to hit a deadline, something dodgy is probably going on,’ the site explains. ‘Always take a moment to stop and think through what you’re being asked.’
You should also take any mention of Martin with a pinch of salt, as he’s used in more UK scams of any celebrity, but doesn’t do ads or endorsements.
The experts continued: ‘Any claims with his face or name attached should ring alarm bells unless it comes from us. If we haven’t covered it on MSE, chances are Martin has nothing to do with it.’
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