Britain’s Natwest bank warned on Wednesday that fraud using fake celebrity accounts, such as those of billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, had already cost their victims millions of pounds, AFP reported.

Natwest’s annual ranking reported that “over £285,000 was lost after a customer responded to an ad featuring an interview with Peter Jones”, star of British TV show Dragon’s Den.

Another scam victim lost nearly as much money after falling for a scam that used the image of environmentalist David Attenborough.

According to Natwest, the ad, which featured the famous naturalist, contained text that misleadingly claimed Mr Attenborough “earns £125,000 a month in shares and marketable securities backed by gold, natural gas and oil”.

“Criminals are using the images of some of the UK’s most respected celebrities”, including many TV personalities, “to steal millions of pounds”, says Natwest, which says it is investing in prevention for its customers.

Most of the fake ads appear on social networks, the bank says.

Elon Musk, the owner of one of the world’s biggest social networks, Twitter, has seen his image stolen in a scam that cost one victim £42,500, Natwest adds.

According to UK Finance, investment fraud cost the UK £114.1m in 2022, a 34% drop on the previous year.