Frances Cook: People are being scammed and it’s my fault

Financial journalist Frances Cook.

People have been scammed out of thousands of dollars, and it’s my fault.

Okay, I didn’t do the scamming, but that’s not the point. Without me, it wouldn’t have happened.

As part of my job explaining the financial world to people, I host a podcast for BusinessDesk and the New Zealand Herald. I write columns. And I also post about money on social media.

The social media following is pretty big these days. More than 200,000 people.

Which is where the scammers smell blood in the water.

On TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, unknown people make almost identical copies of my profile.

Instead of posting as @francescooknz (that’s me, and that’s the only me, by the way – I don’t have any second profiles), they’ll post as @francescooknzz, or @frances.cooknz, or @francesco0knz.

They take my profile picture, repost my posts and buy followers so they look legitimate.

Then they start messaging my followers and trying to scam them.

A conversation one of Frances Cook's followers had with a scammer.

They’ll claim it’s my second account, that I have an investing “opportunity” for them, or that I want them to join my secret WhatsApp insider group.

I don’t use WhatsApp. I certainly don’t approach people to invest in certain products. I don’t have second accounts – I’m busy enough with the original ones.

Often, I have no idea any of this is happening. Some of the scammers are smart and block me before they start so I can’t even report their profile.

An almost-scam victim Frances Cook was alerted about.

Still, I get messages several times a week from people asking, ‘Is this really you? Should I really invest in this cryptocurrency?’

No, I’ll say. Please report and block them.

The next day, a new message from a different person. ‘Is this really you? Is this investment a good idea?’

No. No.

When I do try to report the profiles for impersonation, TikTok and Instagram often refuse to take them down, telling me there’s no impersonation happening.

Excuse me? I’m pretty sure that’s not me.

Maybe I’m more forgetful than I realised.

A follower who reached out to Frances Cook after being contacted by a scammer.

Just in the last week, I’ve had five different people message me. ‘Is this really you? Should I really invest in crypto?’

The last one I heard about was actually a romance scam. My name, my face, but apparently I have a thing for older men, and seem “quite passionate”. A fan of skinny dipping.

Goodness me.

So when Nigel Latta asked me to come on his new TV show You’ve Been Scammed and talk about it, I leapt at the chance.

Maybe, I thought, this would help get the word out about the dangers and help protect my followers.

Nigel knew there were problems with scammers, but even he was shocked to see the extent of it.

I typed my username into TikTok to show him all of the impersonation accounts.

A small number of the scam accounts impersonating Frances Cook on TikTok.

I scrolled down the list, profile after profile after profile with my face and my videos, but run by someone unknown to me with bad intentions.

I put a message on my Instagram account asking people who had been contacted by scammers to message me, and I would put them in touch with the TV production company.

I knew some of the story, but watching it on TV was another thing.

Meli, a sweetheart of a man, who had been excited to think I was messaging him. Only to realise, just in time, that it was a fake.

When the TV show launched, we met at the celebration party, chatted about his work and took a quick selfie together.

He could have lost money because of me. Because he trusted me, and a scammer wanted to take advantage of that trust.

A conversation one of Frances Cook's followers had with a scammer.

My mum called me after the episode aired.

“I had no idea it was that bad. Can’t you make them do something about it?”

Sometimes I get angry thinking about scammers trying to take advantage of people who just want to learn more about money, and who trust me to help them with it.

Sometimes I get sad, wondering if people have been tricked by it and I have no idea.

Mostly, I get annoyed that the big social media platforms, which make a lot of money from us spending our time there, don’t seem to care to stop the scammers taking over the site.

You’ve Been Scammed by Nigel Latta is airing now on TVNZ and TVNZ+. Frances Cook talked to him about it on the latest episode of the Cooking the Books podcast, as well as her scammer experience.