
Martin Lewis fought back tears in an emotional post, calling on the Labour Government to take action amid a new scam attack. The consumer champion, who also hosts his self-titled ITV Money Show, revealed that he's received an email from a pensioner who had sadly fallen victim to fraudulent posts that use his likeness to scam fans out of pocket. The 54-year-old raged: "THEY ARE B******S!
"We just got an email sent to MSE. The spelling was awful, and it was quite tough to understand. Lower down, the writer later explained she was 78, and her disability had stopped her from being able to spell. So perhaps it is a stroke, or something similar(sic)." The email read: "I invested, Martin, with Quotum when you first announced it on TV. What an opportunity for me to buy my own flat. My manager there passed me through to a nice man who asked me for £350 more. He showed me it was growing. I did what he told me to do."
In his post, the presenter continued: "She then goes on to explain how she really wanted her flat, and she gave more and more money. And she has nothing left to help with her disability.
"I'm honestly in tears typing this. These types of scam ads have now been going on for a decade. I have spent my career trying to help people with their finances. It feels visceral to get this, and to feel that this reputation has been perverted by criminals to steal from someone who is clearly so vulnerable leaves me feeling nauseous.
"So many people, both vulnerable and not, lose money and see their lives and wellbeing destroyed. It's now seven years since I sued Facebook. And yet still nothing is being done."
Martin raged: "Big tech makes £3bn a year from these scammers. We have a law in place to make them responsible for these ads they're paid to publish, yet it isn't implemented. How many more of these do I have to receive - and far worse, how many more people have to go through this?"
He added: "This is relentless. It is wrong. Government has to take action! I wrote to the PM just two weeks ago on this very issue. I've not heard back yet. (We are, of course, going to try and point her in the right direction to get help, but that will be stressful for her too)."
In 2018, Martin successfully sued Facebook in a landmark defamation case over fraudulent advertisements using his name and image. The lawsuit was settled out of court the following year when Facebook agreed to establish a dedicated reporting tool and donate £3 million to a Citizens Advice anti-scam project.