Naga Munchetty has said she was ‘mortified and bemused’ by misleading articles about her posted by alleged scammers.
The BBC Breakfast presenter, 49, said she is used to ‘misleading articles about myself online, but the screenshots I’ve been sent by friends and followers on social media in recent weeks are a lot more insidious than most’.
In an article on BBC News, the Strictly Come Dancing star said she has found paid advertisements on X and Facebook that included explicit fake images of her, and after investigating with the BBC 5 Live team, they discovered the adverts went to a fake BBC News website to ‘trick people out of their hard-earned money’.
Munchetty wrote: ‘I was both mortified and bemused, curious about who would pay good money to spread such obvious nonsense.
‘And what was their motive? Is it something malicious? Someone with an axe to grind?
‘I discussed it with my 5 Live production team, and we began to dig into it more. It soon became apparent that my name and image were being used by scammers to try to hoodwink people out of money.’
Wildlife presenter Chris Packham also revealed he had the same thing happen to him on Bluesky.
Speaking to Munchetty on BBC 5 Live, he said the fake news websites encouraged people to invest in cryptocurrency, and take the ‘authority, the integrity, the credibility’ of the BBC and trusted public figures.
Packham also called it ‘extraordinarily offensive, and worrying’, and said he ‘loathes the idea that vulnerable people could potentially be exploited’ because of ‘some hideous scammers’.
Munchetty said the BBC legal department had fake websites taken down through copyright law, but she has been ‘told another website is likely to pop up soon enough, and getting ads taken down from X has become more difficult since it changed ownership’.
Money saving expert Martin Lewis has also spoken out about ‘frightening’ scams using a deepfake video of him, as he warned others before ‘lives are ruined’.
He wrote on X in July 2023: ‘This is a scam by criminals trying to steal money.
‘This is frightening, it’s the first deep fake video scam I’ve seen with me in it. Govt & regulators must step up to stop big tech publishing such dangerous fakes. People’ll lose money and it’ll ruin lives.’
A Meta spokesperson said: ‘People who impersonate others on Facebook and Instagram violate our policies, and we remove this content when it’s found — like we are doing in this case.
More Trending
‘We continue to invest in technology to improve our detection and enforcement against scams and work with law enforcement to prosecute scammers.
The company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has a policy of not allowing users to ‘impersonate others, misrepresent their identity to mislead or deceive others, violate our policies or to evade enforcement’.
Meta automatically removes accounts that do this, and has updated its policies at various points.
Deals of the Day
Abandoned department store transformed into the UK's biggest charity shop
Lidl trials game-changing app shopping feature across all UK stores
Tesco makes major change in stores as shoppers ask 'what's the point exactly?'
Save £300 on the 'Ferrari of lawn mowers' that gardeners are calling 'unbelievable'
Better than chocolate eggs? This indulgent rum liqueur is the Easter treat you need
X and Bluesky have been contacted for comment.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
MORE: Scott Mills confirms when he’ll replace Zoe Ball on BBC Radio 2
