Scammers are using my image to lure people into losing money - Nadine Higgins

Do diligent checks on any online investment advertisement.

THE FACTS

• Brooke Roberts, Carmel Fisher, and Mary Holm’s images are being used in online financial scams.
• The scams exploit difficult economic conditions and the rise of social media influencers and deep fakes.
• Kiwis are advised to verify advisers’ credentials and be cautious of urgent or outsized return promises.

Sharesies co-founder Brooke Roberts, Fisher Funds founder Carmel Fisher, personal finance legend Mary Holm are all names I would ordinarily be delighted to see mine sit alongside.

Not so when each of us has our image being used as part of online scams dressed up as financial advice and devised to part people from their money.

A colleague sent me a message this week asking, “Have you seen this?” (ironically the kind of message that makes me think they’ve been hacked). She sent a picture of me, shared from an account that was using my profile picture, enticing would-be investors to click “learn more”.

I shared a warning on my social media and encouraged anyone who saw it to report it – although I’m sceptical Meta is truly committed to stamping this stuff out.

Before long, I got a message from a follower who had clicked on it and was now being hammered with messages and phone calls through WhatsApp from the would-be scammer. They’d block one number, only for another to start.

Online scams are nothing new of course – plenty of well-known personalities have had their identities hijacked by scammers to spruik anything from diet gummies to dodgy investments. Even if scam accounts are suspended it’s a game of whack-a-mole as another soon pops up.

But using financial advisers feels like an insidious development, capitalising on the confluence of difficult economic conditions, increased interest in investing, the prevalence of social media “finfluencers”, and deep fakes becoming more convincing. Throw in the fact many people don’t want chapter and verse on how to improve their finances, they want a quick fix – and it’s a dangerous recipe.

Kiwis need good financial advice, and advisers are in the trust business so it’s especially unwelcome.

A scammer has been impersonating financial adviser Nadine Higgins on social media.

But let’s unpack this a little. Celebrities, influencers, your mate’s cousin and financial advisers alike can only post educational financial content, market commentary and general information online – not specific advice about what to do or not do.

So, saying “This is how this investment type works”, or “This is where I think interest rates are going”, or “These are the circumstances in which you can withdraw your KiwiSaver" is likely completely fine, and hopefully helpful.

But as soon as it strays into “Buy this investment”, or “Invest your money with this fund”, it should be a major hint that it’s either a scam, or an uninformed/unethical influencer.

Many financial influencers are - in my opinion – flying a little too close to the sun posting “what worked for me” to be comfortably within the bounds of what is legal, which doesn’t help the situation.

If you are seeking someone to give you advice, it’s worth knowing that how it’s done is tightly regulated in New Zealand.

Advisers must be qualified, on the Financial Service Providers Register, engaged by a Financial Advice Provider (FAP) and the FAP must belong to an approved Dispute Resolution Scheme.

A scammer has been impersonating financial adviser Nadine Higgins on social media.

To give you specific advice, they must provide you with prescribed disclosure documents, agree the scope of what they’re advising you on, and – crucially – know and understand your needs and goals to give advice that is suitable to those needs.

That’s impossible if they don’t know you from Adam!

The rules are all well and good, of course, but if you don’t know the letter of the law, how can you avoid falling victim to a financial scam?

• First, pause before clicking links or parting with information.
• Is the advice you’re being offered general or specific? Financial advice in a group setting or from a stranger is a huge red flag.
• Consider the returns being promised – outsized returns are usually a sign it’s a scam.
• What is the setting? No adviser should give you financial advice in a Facebook or WhatsApp group.
• Urgency is a red flag.

Then do due diligence on the person – are they legally allowed to give you financial advice, and are they who they profess to be?

Try searching the Financial Service Providers’ Register. That would have immediately told you that Mary Holm, Brooke Roberts and Carmel Fisher aren’t financial advisers, because their names aren’t there. My name, however, does come up, because I am a financial adviser. (I have to say the search function is a little ropey though, as I didn’t come up unless I included my middle name, or searched all Nadines!)

Do an old-fashioned Google, too – check their official website (not the link in the online ad) and their social media. Mary Holm doesn’t even have a social media account, a major hint that the ads are not legitimate! If you check her website, there’s a specific warning about scam accounts. There are multiple Nadine Higgins on social media but two accounts with profile pictures of the same person should prompt you to look carefully for imitators. If you check the website of my employer, enableMe, it also warns about scams involving me.

You could always pick up the phone and call the organisation (not on the number the ad provides!) Fisher Funds, for example, would likely confirm that Carmel Fisher sold out of the business many years ago.

When you work hard for your money, it’s always worth taking a good, hard look at anyone who promises to look after it for you – and, as scams become more sophisticated, you should be looking harder than ever.

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