Money fraud | 

Fake ad shows RTÉ star Maura Derrane battered and bruised in ‘contagion’ trading scam

“So many people are being targeted.”

Today at 15:54

RTE star Maura Derrane’s image is being used to lure members of the public into giving away financial details online.

The ‘Today’ show host said today that she is “upset” and “annoyed” at the scam ad which uses her face to lure people into clicking a financial scam.

“It is getting worse, it can’t go on. I am going to have to seek legal advice,” Maura said today.

The ad appears across social media showing a ‘battered and bruised’ Maura with the statement ‘The charges against Maura Derrane have been confirmed.’

Anyone who clicks the ad is brought to a fake Irish Independent article where ultimately Maura and Virgin TV presenter Alan Hughes discuss how they have apparently turned small amounts of money into huge gains.

‘€250 would have turned into millions’ using an apparent crypto trading app, the article claims, with a link provided for members of the public to sign up.

“Loads of people are being targeted, I am one of many. It is almost like a contagion at this stage,” Maura told the Sunday World.

“I don’t know what is going on? They don’t come up on my feed. Many people have been contacting me about this.

“It is crazy. It is upsetting and annoying. This is everyday.”

Maura’s fellow host Dáithí Ó’Se has also been used to lure in unsuspecting members of the public.

Virgin Media’s Colette Fitzpatrick and former Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, both had their images used in Janurary in similar scams.

“Your face is being super imposed. I believe it is defamation. You fear it is only going to get worse,” Maura added.

“I just tell people to not click any links. A friend sent me five or six screen grabs and I have had at least fifteen people contact me about these images.

“I will get on to Meta to get this taken down immediately.”

Late last year, Tánaiste Micheál Martin took legal action against Google to secure information about the source of scam adverts for cryptocurrency using his name and image.

Mr Martin initiated High Court proceedings against Google Ireland Limited and Google LLC in an attempt to establish why his name and image were being used for fake adverts.

A Fianna Fáil spokesperson said: “The Tánaiste believes it is neither acceptable nor tolerable that persons unknown can use his image and name online in an effort to associate him with financial products he has never heard of and seek to extract money from people, using his name.

“The Tánaiste sought information from Google in an effort to understand and identify who is responsible for these ads, carried on respectable websites.