The claim, brought jointly with Humphries Kerstetter solicitors, was publicised this weekend and has attracted an overwhelmingly positive response from victims across the country.

The Sunday Times, Daily Mail and Daily Express have all covered news of the Meta group claim, which is one of the most significant legal challenges to Meta’s handling of fraudulent advertising in the UK.

Martin Lewis’ Money Saving Expert website has also reported on the group legal claim.

The claim centres on the systematic use of Facebook and Instagram to serve fraudulent investment advertisements to UK consumers – including deepfake videos of well-known figures such as Martin Lewis – which directed victims to investment scams resulting in significant financial losses.

Martin Richardson said: “These are not random frauds that happened to use social media. Meta’s advertising platforms were the vehicle through which victims were targeted and deceived, often repeatedly. The scale of what has happened is enormous and Meta has both the means and the responsibility to have done more to prevent it.”

The law firms have spent months bringing the Meta group claim together to help scam victims. The more people who come forward, the stronger the group action becomes.

Every year, tens of thousands of British consumers are scammed out of their savings after responding to fraudulent advertisements on Facebook and Instagram promoting fake investment schemes, cryptocurrency fraud, and bogus financial products. 

The human cost is devastating: an initial sign-up process run by Richardson Hartley Law, which has already signed up hundreds of victims to join the claim, found that the average loss per victim stands at around £37,000, often representing life savings accumulated over decades. Despite the scale of the harm, neither the British Government nor its regulators have moved decisively to hold Meta to account, leaving victims with nowhere to turn.

Earlier this month money guru Martin Lewis and consumer champions Which? wrote to the Prime Minister Keir Starmer demanding urgent action against the plague of online fraud. “Major online platforms are not just hosting criminal activity, they are actively profiting from it,” the letter stated.

The law firms say that they hope by bringing this group action it will help to incentivise Meta to address scam adverts shown on Facebook and Instagram.

The case follows a series of explosive Reuters investigations using Meta’s own internal documents, which claimed that the company had knowingly profited from fraudulent advertising. The report claimed that if Meta suspected an advert was fraudulent then it would charge the scammers more money and only took down the offending advert it was 95% certain it was a fraud.

Toby Starr, Partner at Humphries Kerstetter, which is currently running an adtech claim against Google, said: “The internal documents uncovered by Reuters go to the very core of what Meta knew, when it knew it, and what it chose to do – or not do – about it. When a company repeatedly makes decisions that harm a vast number of individuals through the same course of conduct, those individuals have every right to seek collective redress. The strength of the evidence here is significant, and we intend to use it.”

At the heart of the case is Meta’s sophisticated tracking and targeting infrastructure; a system the two firms say has been used to deliver fraudulent investment schemes, fake cryptocurrency products, and bogus financial promotions to the consumers most vulnerable to them with chilling precision.

The action is being pursued on a no-win, no-fee basis. Anyone who lost £2,000 or more after responding to a fraudulent advertisement on Facebook or Instagram in the past six years may be eligible to join.

Read the some of the media coverage of the claim:

• The Sunday Times
• Daily Mail
• Daily Express
• Money Saving Expert

If you lost money to a scam advert on Facebook or Instagram, visit www.metagroupclaims.co.uk.

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Our client Paul Sampson told of the devastating effects of the fraud had had on his life, leaving him homeless and, at times, being forced to sleep in his car.

The sophisticated scam included a very detailed business proposal which we have spent months investigating and proving that every facet and promise was untrue.

Barclays have initially rejected Mr Sampson’s claim under their fraud reimbursement scheme, saying that the investment loss was outside the six year limitation period.

We are currently representing Mr Sampson to the Financial Ombudsman Service to say that the post-concussion syndrome that suffered as a result of head injuries meant it was not possible for him to understand that he had been defrauded.

We got Mr Sampson a diagnosis from Dr Az Hakeem, a Consultant Psychiatrist and Medical Director of Psyche Clinic based in Harley Street, London.

He told the media: “Post concussion syndrome destroys cognitive functions that are needed to recognise fraud.

“Fraud detection requires a person to notice inconsistencies, question what they have been told, and conclude they have been deliberately deceived.

“Memory fragmentation means earlier representations cannot be held in mind long enough to compare against later events.

“The syndrome in this case was also co-presented with depression and anxiety which was exacerbated by the betrayal and Mr Sampson’s own personal experiences. This further suppressed the cognitive vigilance fraud recognition demands.

“Reading about a comparable fraud suddenly provided the framework the brain could not independently construct. Mr Sampson was not generating new reasoning – he was borrowing it. That single moment of external clarity, cutting through years of neurological fog, is entirely consistent with this condition.”

Speaking of Mr Sampson’s investment loss, Martin Richardson, senior partner at Richardson Hartley Law, said: “We’ve managed to prove that every part of the business proposal given to Mr Sampson was fictious. 

It appears that they saw a vulnerability in Paul and took advantage. 

“Mr Sampson’s love of the military was also exploited as they claimed part of his role would be to help veterans.

“This was a well planned and well executed strategy to take all of Paul’s savings. It’s ruined his life.

“We believe that there’s a very strong argument to say that the only reason Paul didn’t bring his claim within the six year limitation period was because of the post concussion syndrome that he suffers from. This is backed up by the psychiatrist’s report.

“We are currently awaiting for the Financial Ombudsman Service to determine whether Paul’s exceptional circumstance mean that his claim can still be heard, particularly as he missed the deadline by just a few weeks. We believe that refusing Paul the ability to make a fraud reimbursement claim because of the fact he suffers from a disability that meant it was not possible to bring a claim in time would be an affront to justice.

“ I’m very hopeful that the Ombudsman will use its powers to do the right thing. Barclays has already accepted that Mr Sampson has suffered a fraud and that should mean he can claim back money under the fraud reimbursement scheme signed up to by the bank.”

The investment loss story appeared in The Sunday Times, The Sun and the Daily Mail newspapers.

Have you lost money to an investment scam? If so, contact us today to see how we can help.

The post Investment Loss- National Media appeared first on Richardson Hartley Law.

We hosted an event at the Houses of Parliament attended by stakeholders to discuss the report which had revealed that fraud in the UK was eight times higher than previously reported.

The story of the APP fraud report was picked up by The Express, The Times, The Sun and the Mirror newspapers. Reporters from the FT, Daily Mail and Which magazine? also attended the event.

While banks and regulators have said that APP fraud payments stand at around £380million a year, the report calculates that these losses are, in reality, about £3billion per annum.

MP Phil Brickell MP, who prior to his election in July 2024 worked for more than a decade across a number of financial institutions tackling financial crime and corruption said: “The findings of this report reconfirm my gravest fear – that fraud is one of the biggest challenges facing our country today. Banks spend billions of pounds every year trying to contain the problem. But given the prevalence of fraudsters on social media platforms, tech firms in particular need to go much further to protect consumers and businesses.”

As well as MPs and journalists, the event has attended by banks, other payment service providers, fraud victims and regulators.

Martin Richardson, senior partner at Richardson Hartley Law, said: ‘The event was a great success. There was huge consensus in the room that everyone must do more to fight the fraud plague.

‘It was a good opportunity to raise awareness of APP fraud in the media.

‘We cannot leave the fight to the banks. Everyone needs to be better at fraud prevention, particularly tech platforms.

‘Our law firm will always fight for scam victims to reclaim their money but we also want to help prevent fraud.’

If you have lost money through APP fraud contact us today.

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One GP scam victim agreed to tell his story to the Daily Mail newspaper- on an anonymous basis- as a warning to others.

The medic in question had lost a total of £200,000 to a sophisticated crypto investment scam. £50,000 of this lost money was a recovery scam by fraudsters claiming they could get his crypto money back. It is very common that scam victims get scammed again.

Like many scam victims, the fraud has created huge problems for the doctor at home and he is now getting divorced.

The doctor spoke openly to the Daily Mail in an emotional interview which laid bare the devastation caused by frauds and scams.

Martin Richardson, senior partner at Richardson Hartley Law, said: ‘It’s very common that people who have been scammed are then targeted by fraudsters again with false claims to recover their lost money.

‘The fraudster will know where money has been sent and then pretend that they have successfully traced the money. This is particularly true of crypto frauds.

‘This is a very sad case that has had huge ramifications for the GP emotionally as well as financially. No-one should underestimate the pain caused by fraud.

‘We have a number of GP scam victims who have lost hundreds of thousands of pounds. Very often they are in the form of investment scams. It seems that GPs are being targeted by scammers because they often have money to invest.’

Since the story was published by the Daily Mail we have managed to recover some of the GP’s money after representing him to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Read the full story: thisismoney.co.uk/money/mailplus/article-14536097/As-GP-never-thought-Id-fall-scam-crypto-conmen-duped-200-000-wife-wants-divorce.html

If you have lost money to a crypto scam contact us today.

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