Deepfake crypto scammer hits Welsh pensioner for £60,000

A vulnerable Welsh pensioner has lost about £60,000 in a cryptocurrency scam that utilized a deepfake video of Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis. The pensioner, 71-year-old Adrian Kearney, has early-stage dementia and was left with substantial debts after being scammed by a fraudulent investment advert on Facebook.

Kearney, a great-grandfather from Swansea, was tricked into giving control of his mobile phone to scammers. After assuming control, the scammers took out several loans in his name before draining his bank accounts.

The Welsh pensioner claimed he told the scammers about his debilitating lung condition and arthritis, but they still encouraged him to continue, lauding his “resilience.” After draining about £58,400 from his Barclays and Monzo bank accounts, the scammer, who claimed to be from a wealth management company, stopped responding to messages.

Welsh pensioner loses funds to deepfake crypto scammer

Speaking about the incident, the Welsh pensioner said, “I was gutted, I just felt absolutely terrible. I’m not a well person; I’m a bit like death warmed up, and I just wanted to curl up and die. I was a fool, and they say a fool and his money are soon parted. I feel like this is all my fault, because I went along with it thinking I was going to be like Rockefeller.”

Martin Lewis had always reiterated to his followers and the general public not to be fooled by adverts or websites featuring him. “See any advert with me in, I do not talk about crypto. I do not do advertising, I do not do investing,” he said.

However, the scam has left Kearney with monthly loan repayments of more than £1,000 to five different lenders. The Welsh native, who had a career in forensic medicine, has now turned to National Fraud Helpline solicitors to help reclaim his cash from banks.

Banks are also facing several regulatory issues related to how they safeguard their users against fraud.

“This is a particularly sad case of scammers exploiting someone who they knew was vulnerable. We’re now seeing AI being used in all sorts of different frauds. Scammers use Martin Lewis’s images as they know consumers respect him and will listen to his advice,” Fiona Bresnen, a solicitor at National Fraud Helpline, said.

Pensioner details the modus operandi of the scammer

According to Kearney, his nightmare started earlier this year after he fell victim to promises of substantial monthly returns for a modest initial outlay of £200. “I knew about AI, but this video of Martin Lewis looked totally genuine,” he explained.

He said the opportunity presented a way to generate some extra funds toward a holiday to visit friends in Thailand with his wife, Ruth. He mentioned that they sent him a link, and after clicking on it, he was contacted by someone who claimed to be a financial adviser.

He said: “He asked me if I had £10,000, and I said ‘no’,” noting that the person said he was going to get him a bank loan that he could use to purchase the digital asset and then pay back the loan within 30 days. 

The Welsh pensioner claimed that he was convinced by the adviser to install AnyDesk on his mobile, noting that the application gave the scammer control over his device.

After gaining control, he then proceeded to take out a series of loans. The funds were transferred from his Barclays account to a Revolut account that the fraudster urged him to open. The funds soon disappeared from the account, supposedly used to purchase digital assets. “I was just the puppet and someone else was pulling the strings,” he added.

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