Financial expert Martin Lewis has raised the alarm over a surge in scams exploiting vulnerable women affected by state pension age changes.
Fraudsters are impersonating the Money Saving Expert founder to lure victims – particularly Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaigners—into handing over sensitive information via fake compensation schemes.
The scam involves bogus ads and websites claiming to offer a ‘WASPI compensation calculator’ endorsed by Lewis, offering non-existent payouts.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Lewis said the websites have “nothing to do with me” and are preying on desperate pensioners hoping for redress following policy changes that impacted women born in the 1950s.
The increase in scams follows a December statement by Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, who rejected proposals to compensate WASPI women.
Many of the fraud attempts are fronted by Lewis’ image and offer seemingly harmless tools that don’t ask for money upfront—but are instead designed to harvest personal data for further scams.
“These people are using my face and my name to make people believe they’re legitimate,” Lewis said. “When I hear someone’s lost their savings thinking they were trusting me—it’s heartbreaking.” He urged the public not to click on unverified social media ads or unfamiliar websites.
MSE has published guidelines to help people identify and avoid scams.
Red flags include urgent language such as “last chance” or “final deadline,” spelling errors, and requests for personal details.
Lewis reminded viewers that he does not appear in advertisements or endorse any compensation schemes.
“Treat anything with my name attached with suspicion unless it’s published by us,” MSE said. “If it’s not on our site, it’s not from Martin.”
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