Latest news with #AnthonyBolton
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Deepfake of fund manager Anthony Bolton could savage your savings in 'pump and dump' shares scam
When an advert that appeared to feature star fund manager Anthony Bolton appeared on Abbie's Instagram feed, it immediately piqued her interest. The ad promised stock tips and information from what seemed to be a credible source. It contained a video in which the former Fidelity International fund manager appears to tell viewers: 'I set up a WhatsApp investment group, every day I will share three stocks and the latest investment news… my goal is to help more investors.' Abbie, 28, from London, ignored it at first. 'But after a few days of being bombarded with the same ad, I decided to click on it,' she says. She had recently received a six-figure inheritance from her grandfather and was looking for somewhere to invest it. After clicking on the advert, there was a link to join a WhatsApp group. Once in the group, she found a handful of members who appeared to be potential investors like herself, alongside experts sharing stock tips. Members were told they could use their own investment platform to buy the recommended stocks and there would be no fee for the advice. The first stock the experts were talking about was Pheton Holdings (PTHL). This is a real company based in China, which was founded in 1998. It develops healthcare solutions for brachytherapy – a type of radiotherapy – and was listed on the US Nasdaq stock exchange in 2022. Abbie was unconvinced by its potential. But the WhatsApp experts kept telling the group that Pheton was on the verge of being acquired by pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences, which could see its share price soar. All the while, Pheton's share price continued to rise, until after three weeks it had tripled in value to reach $18. Abbie was told it would keep rising to $45. 'I thought, there's literally proof in front of my eyes that it is going up, so am I missing out on something?' she says. She gave in to the pressure and bought shares using trading platform Robinhood. The experts in the WhatsApp group also looked legitimate. Their names and headshots matched those of employees of genuine US firm Denver Wealth Management. There were also 'broker assistants' in the WhatsApp group who appeared to be women with professional-looking photographs, with names such as Melissa, Gwen, Olivia and Belle. At first Abbie invested around £7,500, but continued to buy more shares as Pheton kept rising. 'I kept adding more money into it because the 'experts' in the group were so convincing and partly because of the stupidity that comes when you see that you can make a lot of money really quickly,' she says. 'It gets in your head, and you think: I can pay off my partner's student debt and I can pay for our wedding. You make plans in your head. 'I'm a very rational person, and I think I lost that.' Over three weeks, Abbie invested £45,000. Then, suddenly, once the shares ticked over $30 each, their value plunged. In just a matter of minutes they dropped to $1.65 and the value of the company crashed from over $440million to just $23million. Shareholders around the world lost money in the blink of an eye. But at the same time a group of anonymous scammers – likely members of organised criminal gangs – became very rich. That is because the advert that Abbie saw on Instagram was not genuine at all. Scammers had used so-called AI deepfake technology to create a video of Anthony Bolton speaking, when in fact he had nothing to do with the advert at all and had never spoken those words in his life. I'm embarrassed at how stupid I was – I should have recognised the signs, and I should have known better Abbie The sophisticated new technology allows scammers to generate fake video and audio of a real person speaking to make them appear to say things they haven't said. The WhatsApp group was run by scammers, who tricked unsuspecting victims to invest in companies to drive up their share price. They were using the names and profile pictures of genuine people to give themselves an air of legitimacy – without their knowledge or permission. Known as a 'pump and dump' scam, fraudsters artificially inflated the value of Pheton Holdings by investing in it themselves, promoting it to unsuspecting investors and sharing false information about it. Once the share price soars, the scammers sell their own shares for a significant profit, leaving those still holding shares nursing heavy losses. Six months ago, average daily trading volumes for Pheton averaged in the tens of thousands. In the weeks leading up to the 'dump' they rocketed into the millions. Abbie's partner also invested £3,000 in the company, and she had told her parents to do so too, but fortunately they chose not to. 'I have a deep feeling of shame,' says Abbie. 'People who trusted me, listened to me and thought that I knew what I was doing, took or nearly took my advice,' says Abbie. 'I'm embarrassed at how stupid I was – I should have recognised the signs, and I should have known better. 'I hope I can put it behind me, but it will take months, if not years.' The Mail on Sunday has identified at least 81 victims of the scam worldwide, but the actual number of victims is likely to reach into the thousands. One is a professional investment analyst who lost over £13,000. The online scammers were so convincing that they managed to fool him despite his expertise. Fidelity International – and other investment giants – put out warnings about it. When logging on to Fidelity's investments and pensions platform recently, it had a red alert stating: 'Fraudsters are increasingly using deepfake technology to carry out sophisticated scams. 'Some of the world's most high- profile investors, including former Fidelity fund manager Anthony Bolton, have been targeted.' Another victim, Ahmed, 26, who lives in London, also bought PTHL shares after the stock was recommended in a WhatsApp group he had joined, and it rose by 10 per cent in just days. He says: 'I invested in PTHL using my investing platform Trading 212, and after a few days I noticed that it started increasing rapidly as they had promised, I decided to put in everything I could, so I also sold my other stocks.' In total, Ahmed bought £32,000 worth of shares in the firm – and lost £28,000 when the value of the shares plunged. 'I put in all the savings I had,' he says. 'It took years of hard work to save that money. I was so frustrated and shocked. I was kind of depressed – I had no idea what to do and I also felt very lonely.' Ahmed contacted others in the WhatsApp investment group, but only one person replied. 'All the other people – who were sharing their screenshots of their own transactions of very high numbers – I think they were all part of the scam,' he says. Many of those targeted appear to be those working in the financial sector, and who you might think are unlikely to fall victim to an investment scam. James, a 39-year-old working in financial markets for a UK bank was stung too, losing £13,000 in the investment scam. For James, the financial implications were small, but the scam took a mental toll. He said: 'From a from a monetary perspective, I'll recover that loss within a couple of months, not like other victims who have lost their life savings… but it is the embarrassment. 'I do this stuff day in, day out. I make money for the banks that I work for, and I feel embarrassed that I didn't see through it.' Hargreaves Lansdown co-founder Peter Hargreaves is another investing expert who has had his identity cloned without his knowledge or permission. Sarah Lennette, financial crime specialist at Starling Bank, says: 'Ever-evolving technology has transformed scams and made it a lot easier for criminals to either pretend to be celebrities or use their image or voice. 'Scammers need as little as three seconds of audio to clone voices, and celebrities often have hours of audio on the internet from TV or social media.' Pheton denies any knowledge of the scam. A spokesman for the firm says: 'Pheton's management team unequivocally and categorically denies any involvement in, or knowledge of, any form of stock price manipulation. 'Pheton plans to engage with its market makers, Nasdaq, and relevant regulatory bodies for the purpose of holding responsible parties to the scheme accountable.' Robinhood declined to comment. A spokesman for Trading 212 said: 'On July 10, our monitoring systems detected heightened risk in the stock. That same day we placed the instrument into close-only mode – blocking all new purchases while allowing clients to sell existing holdings. 'Trading 212 will continue to act to prevent customer harm, and we remain committed to transparency and investor protection.' Victims, meanwhile, are gathering to pursue class action against Meta, which owns Instagram, for allowing these adverts to appear on its platform, while others are considering legal action against their trading platforms for failing to protect them. A spokesman for Meta says: 'Online scams are growing in scale and complexity, driven by ruthless cross-border criminal networks that use sophisticated schemes to target people across the internet. 'We don't want this type of content on our platforms, which is why we're continuing to invest in technology to aggressively enforce against scams, provide people with on-platform warnings and tools to protect themselves, and partner with banks, governments and law enforcement to stop these criminals.' Names of victims have been changed What happened when we joined the group I posed as a curious investor and clicked on an Instagram post offering investing tips that purported to be headed by expert Anthony Bolton. I knew the post was a fake and that Bolton had nothing to do with it, but I wanted to see what lengths the scammers would go to, to get me to invest. The Instagram post contained a link to WhatsApp, where I was immediately contacted by an 'investment assistant' who said her name was Sophia. At first glance she looked like a trustworthy thirtysomething financial professional and took the reins immediately. 'Our company will help you get more than 80 per cent profit returns in the 100-day free period,' she promised. This contact continued for almost two months, with Sophia sending updates every few days. They wouldn't charge commissions on purchases, she said, and their recommendations could be purchased through any trading platform, adding another layer of legitimacy. They were posting daily market information on market movements. The calls they were making were often right, and the communication was professional. Sophia then introduced me to Pheton Holdings, with its ticker PTHL, as its 'VIP' stock. She said it would return between 80 per cent and 150 per cent over 20 to 30 days. Of course I did not invest. I know what would have happened to my money if I did. But I also joined a WhatsApp group for victims of the scam, which it appeared scammers had also infiltrated. One user, purporting to be a victim, posted: 'The group that scammed me have offered compensation of 90 per cent if I provide screenshots of losses and bank details. What do you think?'
Daily Mail
16-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Warning over deepfake scams featuring stock-picking veterans such as Anthony Bolton and Peter Hargreaves on social media
Former Fidelity International star fund manager Anthony Bolton recently made a surprise appearance on social media to share expert investment advice and stock picks. Only it wasn't him. It was a bogus version of the veteran stockpicker which a fraudster had made to look and sound like him using AI. In a 25 second AI-generated video, someone who looked and sounded like Bolton invited investors to join a stock-picking WhatsApp group. The deepfake video of Bolton encouraged would-be investors to join if they are 'worried about missing out on investment opportunities and want to learn more about quality stocks.' As a result, Fidelity had to issue a warning message to customers on its investment and pension platforms. It says: 'Fraudsters are increasingly using deepfake technology to carry out sophisticated scams. 'Some of the world's most high profile investors, including former Fidelity fund manager Anthony Bolton, have recently been targeted.' Deefake scams using the identities of investing gurus are becoming a headache for the investment industry more widely. Several other prominent figures tied to big name investment firms have now had their identities stolen by scammers to use in deepfakes. A Fidelity spokesman said: 'Unfortunately, scams like these are on the rise across the industry.' Peter Hargreaves, co-founder of stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown, has also been targeted by scammers trying to use his high profile for financial gain. A video of what appeared to Hargreaves encouraging people to join a whatsapp group geared at giving investment tips and stock picksappeared on Instagram. 'Inncreasingly, scammers will use social media to draw people in,' says Sarah Coles head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown. She adds: 'Some videos will show luxury lifestyles, and encourage people to sign up to a WhatsApp group where they will apparently learn the secrets of investing success. 'Another horrible twist on this is using deepfakes of well-known people in the industry, including Peter Hargreaves, to get people to sign up to scam WhatsApp groups.' Most recently, Stephanie Flanders, former chief market strategist at JPMorgan, has had her image used by scammers in a post on Instagram. Flanders is now Bloomberg's head of economics and politics. An account using Flanders' image appeared on Instagram, with Flanders supposedly introducing herself as Stephanie Flanders in a post. The caption said: 'Recently many people have asked me, 'How do I find opportunities to make real money in the stock market?' 'To answer this question, I decided to create a WhatsApp investing group where I will reveal hidden opportunities in the stock market and share my investing strategies to help more people achieve financial freedom fast.' A spokesman at Bloomberg said: 'We are aware of this post, which is obviously fake. We have reported it to the relevant social media platforms and have been taking the appropriate steps to have it removed.' JPMorgan declined to comment. How are people scammed with deepfakes? Scammers can use AI and voice cloning technology to replicate a public figure's image and voice from a short video clip. The audio clips used in deepfakes can easily be captured from a genuine video that has appeared online, such as an interview. The investment deepfake scams have the common aim of trying to get people to join WhatsApp groups, under the guise of sharing investment advice and stock picks from investment industry stalwarts. Once people have joined the Whatsapp groups, criminals have their contact details. They will then use those contact details to get in touch and get you invest in stocks that have very little value. This blows up the price as more people get pushed into buying it – and then, at the point at which it's gone up, they will then sell up and run. For this reason, Sarah Coles says: 'These are likely to be 'pump and dump' schemes, in which the criminals invest in very small stocks, then they put people under pressure to invest too – in order to push the price up. 'Once the value has risen, the criminals sell up and run, leaving investors with big losses, and in some cases with worthless stocks.' In 2024, £144million was lost to investment fraud where a criminal convinces their victim to move their money to a fictitious fund or to pay for a fake investment. This type of fraud jumped 34 per cent from 2023, despite a 24 per cent reduction in cases. What are firms doing? Investment platforms are now warning customers that prominent figures who have in the past been attached to the business, or still are, that they do not use social media to share investing tips or stock picks. A Fidelity spokesman said: 'In terms of the Anthony Bolton video, we are aware of this deepfake video. We actively monitor social media platforms and take action to have them removed when they appear. 'To be clear, these accounts and groups have no legitimate connection to Anthony Bolton or Fidelity International. Fidelity International does not use social media to offer unsolicited investment opportunities.' Sarah Coles said: 'It's worth knowing that neither of the HL founders are on social media – not Peter Hargreaves or Stephen Lansdown. They don't have WhatsApp groups – and neither does HL. If you are enticed to sign up to these things, they are scams.' HL is also identifying scams using its name and contacting social media companies to take them down. Over 600 adverts and 22 pages from scam accounts were taken down in the last week, following HL reporting them for trademark infringement. Consumers should check the FCA register to make sure they are dealing with an authorised firm or individual. An FCA spokesman said: 'AI provides opportunities but also comes with risks as fraudsters impersonate firms to try and defraud customers. 'Firms should consider how they mitigate the growing scam threats posed by AI, while investors should be on high alert for convincing clone scams.
Telegraph
20-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Stop missing out on the home advantage – this trust is primed for recovery
Questor is The Telegraph's stockpicking column, helping you decode the markets and offering insights on where to invest for the past six decades. The UK market remains firmly out of favour. Open-ended UK equity funds haemorrhaged £22.7bn in net outflows last year as retail investors pulled their cash. It is not hard to find reasons for this – the FTSE All Share has risen 82pc over the past 10 years, while the MSCI World index has delivered more than double that at 168pc, driven largely by stellar returns in the US. In addition, it is easy to dismiss the UK market for lacking the growth potential found in the US, given just 1.3pc of its value is represented by technology stocks. Questor recognises that GDP growth in the UK remains anaemic, while business confidence is suffering from rising taxes and the uncertain geopolitical environment. However, UK equity valuations have already priced in a lot of bad news, and it is worth recognising that more than 75pc of revenues of UK-listed companies come from overseas. The key catalysts for a recovery come in the shape of the wave of takeover approaches by overseas corporates and private equity, as well as the ongoing return of capital via share buybacks. These are already having an impact – the FTSE All Share is up 11.1pc over the past 12 months, beating the global market's 8.2pc. Questor believes a value investment approach is well placed to benefit in the current environment, and Fidelity Special Values investment trust – which recently passed its 30 th anniversary – offers precisely that. Over its lifetime the contrarian investment vehicle, focused on UK equities, has grown assets from less than £50m to more than £1.1bn. For the first 18 years of the fund's life, the portfolio was run by Anthony Bolton, one of the leading fund managers of his generation. He was never going to be an easy act to follow, but Alex Wright has continued to deliver strong performance since taking over as lead manager in September 2012, with annualised Nav total returns of 11.4pc versus 7.5pc for the FTSE All Share, outperforming in 8 of 12 financial years. The manager seeks out unloved companies trading at attractive valuations that are entering a period of positive change – ones the market hasn't cottoned on to yet. Utilising the resources of Fidelity's extensive research team, the investment universe includes large, mid and small-cap stocks, as well as up to 20pc in companies listed outside the UK. Risk is managed partly through diversification, typically holding 80-120 investments, with the largest representing less than 5pc of assets, a title currently held by Imperial Brands, at 4.5pc. In addition, stock selection focuses heavily on the potential downside risk. In part, this is achieved by buying companies that are valued cheaply relative to their history or peers, but also by avoiding businesses that are highly leveraged in order to limit the threat of permanent loss of capital. Furthermore, a strict sell discipline is imposed once a company's share price has recovered. Just 39pc of the current portfolio is invested in the UK's largest companies, compared with the benchmark's 86pc FTSE 100 allocation, demonstrating a bias towards the less well-covered mid and small cap stocks. The active management approach is illustrated by having no exposure at all to several of the largest companies in the FTSE All Share, including Shell, BP, HSBC and Unilever. As a result, the fund should not be expected to perform in line with the benchmark, and there will be periods of underperformance, as was the case during the Covid pandemic. By sector, the portfolio is typically overweight towards financials, and the largest holdings currently include Standard Chartered and NatWest, as well as Direct Line, which recently agreed a takeover bid from Aviva. However, some profits have been taken from banking shares over the past year following strong share price performance. As a result, the largest overweight sector is currently industrials, with holdings including Keller, DCC and Coats. By contrast, the fund is underweight towards energy and healthcare. Alex Wright also manages the £3.3bn open-ended variation – Fidelity Special Situations – which has a very similar portfolio. However, Questor favours the investment trust as it has a lower management fee and is currently trading at a discount to Nav of 5.6pc, with a commitment by the board to buy back shares to keep the discount in single figures. Over the long term the investment trust's performance has been enhanced by modest gearing – typically 10pc – and the ability to take positions in less liquid companies. Although the emphasis is on capital growth, it pays a yield of 2.9pc via semi-annual dividends, and has increased its dividend every year for the past 15 years.
