Celeb obsession hits hip pockets

behind the latest round of money-spinners are highly sophisticated. The problem for ordinary Australians is that it is very difficult to pick fake ads or websites from the real thing.

I suspect most of us are aware that Prince Harry’s image won’t be used to flog dodgy products any time soon. That hasn’t stopped scammers using other household names to ply their trade. According to Scamwatch, crooks have faked endorsements using celebrities like Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman and Steve Baxter of Shark Tank fame.

As the ACCC has noted, it would help if some of the world’s biggest tech giants like Google, Facebook and Instagram came on board to crackdown on these fake ads. In the meantime, it pays for all of us to maintain a healthy degree of scepticism.

If you are caught up in one of these scams, call your bank immediately to try and arrange a chargeback and stop any further debits to your credit card, bank account or whatever source of funds you have provided.

When it comes to any investments you may see promoted, check that the product stands on its own merit.

That means having a track record of reasonable longterm returns and low fees. In my book, no quality investment needs the backing of a Hollywood heavyweight to flog its benefits. Paul Clitheroe is Chairman of InvestSMART, Chairman of the Australian Government Financial Literacy Board and chief commentator for Money Magazine.