Georgie Gardner: My own grandmother fell for cruel online scam using my photo

A number of high-profile Aussie celebrities have fallen victim to cruel scams in recent months, as their photos are illegally being used to sell beauty products online.

And while everyone from Lisa Wilkinson and Carrie Bickmore, to Today show co-stars Georgie Gardner and Deb Knight have been targeted, Georgie has now revealed her own grandmother has been caught up in the hoax too. The endorsement scams see images of well-known celebrities spread across social media to falsely advertise a beauty product, fooling people into thinking that star is supporting it.

And speaking about her own experience on the Today show, Georgie admitted one of them was so convincing it fooled her gran into buying a face cream – believing her granddaughter was involved in the campaign. She told co-host Tom Steinfort and Nine‘s finance editor Ross Greenwood: “This scheme is so good that my own grandmother bought the face cream that I was purportedly selling.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmeqU-zhxEX/

Georgie had previously warned her fans of the scam after spotting false news reports circulating around, stating she was set to leave the Today show to instead sell skincare products. Sharing a screenshot of one of the ‘reports’ on her Instagram previously, Georgie wrote: “Appalled & disgusted by this scam, using my image to endorse a face cream, under the guise of a news story. Do not buy it & FB take responsibility as publishing platform to remove it. #falsenews.”

Meanwhile earlier in the show Ross hit out at the fake adverts, calling on all celebrities who have been caught in the scam to band together to stop it. He said on the program: “It’s just plain wrong and Facebook has to be held accountable.” Georgie immediately showed her support and said: “I’m with you. I’m on board!”

Online fraudsters have begun using sophisticated scamming techniques like using the likeness of celebrities to cheat innocent people out of their hard-earned cash. @Ross_Greenwood #9Today pic.twitter.com/iQqGGOQLzB

— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) October 28, 2019

According to a report by the ACCC last year, the number of reports to watchdog Scamwatch had soared by 400 per cent in a year – with older women the most likely to get caught out. The scams primarily appear as online advertisements or promotional stories on social media, or on a legitimate-looking website, with many including false claims that a major celebrity is leaving their job to start their own beauty company. Some will include fictitious quotes and out-of-context images of the celebrity to make them appear realistic.

In just one year, Aussies lost more than $142,000 to the scams. Shockingly, 63 per cent of those losses were suffered by people aged 45 and older – most commonly women.

“The growth in these scams is very concerning, particularly as over half the reports we received included a financial loss. Most people lost between $100 and $500 and in one case, a victim lost more than $50 000 through fake celebrity endorsement of an investment scheme,” ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said at the time.

The Project‘s Carrie Bickmore was targeted in an elaborate skincare scam previously and taking to Instagram at the time, she wrote: “SCAM WARNING. If you see articles or fake ads popping up on your social media feeds saying I am leaving The Project to focus on my FACE CREAM/BEAUTY BUSINESS please ignore and DO NOT click on the link to purchase the product. It’s a scam and they will take your money. Very sneaky. They have been targeting a few different presenters.”

So apparently this BS “moisturiser” is called Final Skin (pretty grim name in itself) but the dumb-ass quote supposedly from me is priceless:
“If you have a face and your face has skin, Final Skin will work for you…As a mixed-race person that is the first thing I made sure of.” pic.twitter.com/CwUjN6nBYk

— Lisa Wilkinson (@Lisa_Wilkinson) March 17, 2018

Meanwhile, in March last year her co-star Lisa Wilkinson slammed a similar advertisement that was circulating on social media, which claimed she left Today to also start her own skincare company. Taking to Twitter, Lisa warned her followers the advertisement was a scam.

She wrote: “So apparently this BS “moisturiser” is called Final Skin (pretty grim name in itself) but the dumb-ass quote supposedly from me is priceless: ‘If you have a face and your face has skin, Final Skin will work for you…As a mixed-race person that is the first thing I made sure of’.”