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Naga Munchetty Says Deepfake Ads Used Her Image to Lure People to Scam Sites

Fraudsters used paid social ads mimicking BBC pages to route users to bogus trading websites.

Overview

  • In a new interview, the BBC presenter said scammers pasted her face onto a nude body and used the image as clickbait to pull people into criminal sites.
  • She said her Radio 5 Live team investigated and found paid adverts on X and Facebook that linked to fake BBC-style articles which then redirected to a trading scam.
  • Munchetty said she felt outrage over victims being misled rather than distress about the doctored image, and she described persistent racist abuse that has led her to block many users.
  • She noted this is part of a wider pattern, citing MoneySavingExpert’s Martin Lewis and wildlife presenter Chris Packham as previous targets of similar impersonation scams.
  • There have been no reported takedowns or arrests tied to these ads, and the Daily Mail separately reports a BBC bullying investigation into Munchetty that other outlets have not confirmed.