Trading standards have been trying to help a Somerset woman who has lost £40,000 in an online scam.
Lisa, from Somerset, who is using a false name to protect her identity, invested in cryptocurrency because she believed it was backed by Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis.
She said she was groomed by online scammers who took out several loans in her name.
A spokesperson for Money Saving Expert said: “Martin never does adverts and never promotes investments.”
“Anything you see suggesting otherwise is fraudulent and a scam. If you see the post online, don’t engage with it, as it may be trying to trick you into handing over information. Instead, report it so it can be taken down.”
Lisa decided to invest £200 in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin after she saw an advert on Facebook.
She told the BBC that she was groomed by a scammer who called her daily for about two months.
“He told me we were business partners,” she said. “He groomed me to trust him. Right the way through I thought it was a Martin Lewis, genuine thing.”
“Before I knew it, he’d opened an Experian account on my behalf and applied for approximately 11 loans using false details about my income.”
She said that at one point £55,000 appeared in her account. Soon after, the scammer called her demanding that she transfer the money to him.
“I asked well where has it come from? I got a little bit angry, he became abusive and he said if I didn’t comply then I would lose all the money I’d made,” she said.
Lisa says she received support from Citizens Advice Bureau, the Trading Standards Agency and the police.
She has come to some agreement with the loan companies where she is paying a minimal amount and protecting her credit rating as much as she “possibly can”.
Lisa is now repaying more than £1,000 a month for the next five years.
“I’ve felt incredibly stupid and ashamed,” she said. “I still don’t answer my phone to unknown numbers. I live in fear. They have my address. They have all my contact details.”
“I’ve had to change all my passwords and my bank details because I don’t know what they’re capable of.”
Janet Quinn, the scams lead officer for Heart of the South West Trading Standards office, says online cryptocurrency fraud is on the rise.
“Cryptocurrency, bitcoin, any type of investment scam is big at the moment,” said Ms Quinn. “People are trying to find a way to make quick or easy money because of the cost of living crisis.”
