Six weeks ago, into my inbox dropped an email with the name of financial pundit Martin Lewis in the strapline. I wasn’t in the best frame of mind to read about money matters.
I’d just sold the family home after a divorce and was emotionally and physically exhausted. But I’d always trusted and liked Martin Lewis so, whereas I’d usually ignore unsolicited emails like this, I opened it.
And with that click of a mouse began a nightmare which trashed my self-confidence, shredded my nerves and left me more than £20,000 poorer.
Last week, ministers announced a crackdown on ‘misleading adverts for cryptocurrencies’ and my sorry story illustrates the pitfalls perfectly.
Lucy Cavendish, pictured, a mother of four, received an email with ‘Martin Lewis’ written in the subject line, promising her the financial ‘opportunity of a lifetime’
The Financial Conduct Authority also unveiled its forecast for the coming year: a huge rise in crypto fraud — with cases overtaking pandemic-related, parcel-delivery and fixed-rate bond scams, which dominated last year. I am afraid to say that I am already included in those humiliating statistics.
The email was about Bitcoin, a totally unknown world to me. It might just as well have been about Mars.
But according to ‘Martin Lewis’, it said, cash is dead and we could all get rich quick by investing in cryptocurrency. It quoted some ‘real-life’ stories and a blog by a ‘newbie’ investor who had turned £250 to £2,500 in less…
