Joy Foster was looking to improve her finances so she’d have a nest egg to retire with, however, she ended up losing £11,733 after falling victim to an investment scam she though was Martin Lewis approved.
The 50 year old from Stakeford, Northumberland was fup with ISAs and saving accounts which weren’t offering much interest and she was eager to see more growth, especially with her retirement in mind.
After spotting an advert for an investment opportunity on Facebook, she thought this was her golden ticket to early retirement from her job as a Resource Planner.
She thought the advert was supported by MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis, who she trusts for money advice so she was not hesitant to get involved. Her husband is older than her and already retired so she was looking to retire soon also.
She said: “I went ahead and enquired. I got a phone call guiding me through the platform, showing me how easy it is to take my money out. I invested £250 and I saw returns on it quite quickly.
“I then invested £2,000. It seemed legit because someone was always calling me every day. They were chatty, friendly and giving me advice and I could see the money growing.”
Mrs Foster researched the investment platform and read glowing TrustPilot reviews which gave her confidence to move forward with this venture.
She made four payments, increasing the amount every time. Her bank, Chase, questioned the legitimacy of the first couple of transactions, but as Mrs Foster thought it was safe, she confirmed it was.
However, it wasn’t until she came across a scam awareness campaign from Halifax bank which sent alarm bells ringing. The scam they were describing seemed exactly like what she was doing.
She explained she wanted to stop investing anyway, but when she tried to take money out, the investment company kept promising ‘it’ll be the end of the week’ as long as she could pay her withdrawal fees.
Mrs Foster went back to the TrustPilot page and found a reviewer who had left their mobile number as they had also been scammed.
Through this contact, she was welcomed into a WhatsApp group of fellow victims. One member of the group mentioned they had recovered their money through CEL Solicitors. She thought she had lost her money forever however they were able to help her recover her funds in two months
She continued: “Now I just don’t trust anything. I don’t even have an ISA anymore, my money is in one bank account and I know it’s not growing but I’m just happy with the four percent interest now.
“I felt stupid. I couldn’t believe I’d been caught out by a scam, I thought I was ahead of that, I’m quite level-headed. My husband was so supportive through it all. I felt awful, this money for retirement was gone.
“But thankfully I joined this WhatsApp group and found out there is help out there. I feel it’s not promoted enough.”
CEL Solicitors help victims of all types of fraud recover their losses, but investment scams are particularly rife. Paul Hampson, CEO of CEL Solicitors said: “Mrs Foster was scammed in 2022 when she thought she was making smart investments for her financial wellbeing.
“Scammers go to great lengths to con people, and no one should feel stupid for falling for it. They are making careers out of everyday people’s money, and social media sites and banks should be doing more to stop them.
“We’re delighted that in this instance, we were able to recover Mrs Foster’s losses and she can continue planning towards that early retirement.”
The Money Saving Expert website warns: “Whether it’s Martin’s pic on PPI claims firm or boiler incentive ads, scam binary trading ads, energy door-knockers using our name, or Bitcoin pop-ups with an image of Martin encouraging you to invest, they are all an attempt to leech off the hard-earned trust people have in us.
“Don’t touch the ads.”
