Wayne Luxon, a resident of Taunton in Somerset, expressed his frustration towards Facebook for its failure to prevent scams after he lost £140,000 due to a deepfake video featuring Martin Lewis that led him to invest in a fraudulent website. Luxon, a father of four, is now part of a massive legal action against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, alleging that the social media platform allowed deceptive advertisements to be displayed.
In 2020, Luxon fell victim to a scheme promising lucrative returns on cryptocurrency investments through a video on Facebook. Initially, he invested £250 and saw it double to £500, leading him to invest an additional £16,000 from his savings. However, when he tried to withdraw the funds, he was asked to pay a substantial tax based on his fictitious account balance of over £800,000.
Despite borrowing money to pay the tax, Luxon was devastated when his account balance suddenly dropped to zero. This ordeal caused immense stress, with Luxon fearing the loss of his home and having to work tirelessly to repay loans amounting to nearly £800 monthly. Although Barclays refunded half of his initial investment, they refused to reimburse the tax payment.
Luxon emphasized the urgency for Facebook to promptly remove deceptive ads to protect unsuspecting individuals from falling prey to scams. Another victim, Jakub Siwiak, also shared his experience of losing nearly £15,000 to a fraudulent advert on Facebook. Siwiak stressed the need for Facebook to assume greater accountability in preventing such scams and highlighted the financial strain he faced due to the deceitful investment scheme.
Both Luxon and Siwiak have joined a group legal action against Meta, seeking to recover the funds lost to online scams facilitated through the social media platforms. The legal claim, spearheaded by law firms Humphries Kerstetter and Richardson Hartley Law, aims to combat the billions of pounds lost annually to digital scams on these platforms.
Inquiries have been made to Meta by the Mirror for their response on these issues.