Fake adverts
The government has given advice about how to spot fake adverts. They suggest that people look out for and beware the following:
- bargain prices on high value items or incredible returns on investments
- language designed to panic you
- claims that a product or service (such as a health card or driving licence) can be obtained more quickly or easily than going through official channels
- a logo that looks familiar but there’s something not quite right about it
- being encouraged by the advertiser to move away from the official website to complete the transaction
- if you click on a link, it takes you to a website that doesn’t feel right
- celebrities or public figures promoting investments and products they might not normally be associated with
- subtle imperfections in images and videos such as voices not matching up to the visuals or unnatural movements
Facebook scam adverts
Which? has announced that scam adverts are appearing on Facebook promoting hearing aids which claim that they have been endorsed by Which?, but that simply isn’t true.
Which? goes on to say that in September, they were alerted to a “series of dodgy adverts for hearing aids circulating on Facebook. The ads used a fake Which? logo and led to a website called ‘Better Living Daily’. The website featured an article which claimed to be written by an expert audiologist”.
The website and Facebook account which the adverts link have nothing to do with Which? and they reported these ads to Meta, the owner of Facebook, in September and were removed after a few days.
However, these ads have reappeared and remain live, despite repeated efforts to get them taken down.
Booking.com
Which? have also announced that Booking.com have replaced customer service staff with AI, with scam victims being forced to first report traumatic fraud experiences to artificial intelligence bots. As many as 900 members of staff have been made redundant by Booking.com.
You can’t always trust celebrity endorsements
It has been noted that “A celebrity endorsement is when a famous person (A celebrity) uses their fame or social status to help promote a product, service, or brand. Celebrity endorsements can be incredibly effective because they tap into the aspirational qualities that people often associate with celebrities.
“When people see their favorite celebrities using or wearing a certain product, they might be more likely to want to use it themselves. Celebrity endorsements can also create a sense of urgency and make people feel like they need to buy a product before it sells out. And finally, celebrity endorsements can help add an element of excitement or glamour to a product.”
Which has stated that famous face deepfakes are still promoting phoney crypto schemes all over digital platforms along with other cons, as banks report that £98m stolen by investment fraudsters in the first half of the year.
Which? has also noted that, “celebrity deepfakes were the most common scam advert reported to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in 2024, and these scammers appear to be relentless. New figures from UK Finance show that investment scam losses reached £98m in the first six months of 2025, a 55% increase year-on-year”.
The data from Which? points to a similar trend and they say that they have received over 200 reports on their Scam Sharer tool, of investment scams so far in 2025, with almost half of them originating through social media or online.
Here, Which? unpicks what their data shows, “including the most commonly-imitated famous faces. We also hear from a devastated former police officer who lost thousands after seeing a mock BBC article about crypto trading on Facebook”.
UK fraud regulations need to toughen up
Additionally, Which? has noted that scam adverts which they have found are likely to fall within the scope of the Online Safety Act (OSA). However, only parts of that regime are currently in force.
Protections are unlikely to be in place until 2027 at the earliest, as Ofcom has delayed publication of draft rules tackling scam ads. Consequently, while scams may appear as ordinary search engines, YouTube and social posts they are at present covered, scams being disseminated by paid-for adverts are not.
As a result of these delays, Which? is “calling on the government to impose a statutory deadline for Ofcom to introduce the codes of practice and make sure its forthcoming fraud strategy includes a commitment to legislation on scam ads not covered by the OSA and measures to hold Big Tech to account for the volume of fraud perpetrated by third parties on their platforms”.
To find out more see here.
Scam sharer tool
To learn more about how you can share scams and help to protect others from scams, please click here.
CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO OUR CROWDFUNDER
HELP US BECOME STRONGER SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO DELIVER POWERFUL CITIZEN JOURNALISM!
