Consumer champion Martin Lewis warns over ‘disgraceful’ new deepfake scam advert

“Musk’s new project opens up new opportunities for British citizens. No project has ever given such opportunities to residents of the country”, the fake Mr Lewis says in the footage.

But the clip is AI-generated, using deepfake technology to replicate the expert’s face and voice using existing video and sound, making it appear realistic.

“It’s pretty frightening,” Mr Lewis told the BBC. “These people are trying to pervert and destroy my reputation in order to steal money off vulnerable people, and frankly it is disgraceful, and people are going to lose money and people’s mental health are going to be affected.”

He said it was the first time he has been used in this sort of video scam. Mr Lewis, who founded Money Saving Expert and has around 2.3m followers on Twitter, said more needs to be done to regulate scam adverts and protect victims of financial crimes.

“Vulnerable people and many non-vulnerable people are being scammed in this country and nothing is being done about it”, he said.

He said there are no “proper” fines for big tech firms who get paid to publish criminal adverts.

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is working with Stop Scams UK to help victims and remove scams at the source, as soon as it becomes aware of them. The multinational tech giant said scammers are increasingly using sophisticated methods to defraud people, which it regards as an industry-wide issue.

Mr Lewis campaigns for consumers on a wide range of issues. Last week, he voiced concerns about the wellbeing of people who are dealing with rising mortgage or rental costs. The MoneySavingExpert.com founder said he expects to see increases in mortgage arrears and some people selling up.

A new mortgage charter has been agreed by lenders representing around 85 per cent of the mortgage market, following a meeting between Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and banks. Under the charter, lenders will allow customers who are up to date with their payments to switch to interest-only payments for six months or extend their mortgage term to reduce their monthly payments.

Borrowers will have the option to revert to their original term within six months by contacting their lender.

Asked if he expects to see a big rise in home repossessions, Mr Lewis said: “No, I don’t think we will… for two reasons.

“One, because one of the agreements that was made at the meeting is banks will not look to repossess, unless the individual wants that to happen, for at least a year from the first missed payment. So there is a little bit of time being bought there.

“And two, because the courts are absolutely clogged up. Even if you started repossession proceedings now, from what I’m hearing it would take 18 months before they were heard.”

He continued: “I think we’re going to see some very substantial arrears.”