BEN Fogle has issued an urgent plea to fans as he is once again targeted by fraudsters.
The former Castaway: 2000 star admitted that he has forced to ‘waste thousands of pounds’ in an attempt to stop them.
Ben, 50, has previously lamented the lack of action taken against scammers online.
But it seems the ITV personality has fallen victim to yet more digital fraudsters who are using his name and image in an attempt to con users.
He took to Instagram with an picture picture of one of the adverts as he wrote a long essay in the caption alongside.
The Channel 5 star wrote: “The Fake Scam Facebook ads using me are back.
“The last time they appeared, I employed lawyers and a team of online forensics experts to find the source and shut them down.
“Despite cease and desist letters, we have been unable to stop the Meta ads.
“The problem is that they are pop up fake ads which use Facebook captured cookies to target people who either follow me or have looked me up online.
“The ads all originate from another online platform called Medium from which they are then used as pop up ads on Facebook which disappear after a short time which means we were unable to provide evidence to Meta.”
He also revealed that he has spent ‘thousands’ of pounds out of his own pocket to try and get them taken offline.
“I wasted many thousands of pounds trying to get them shut down which I have been told is impossible,” he explained.
Ben added: “So it looks like the fake ads are here to stay. For the record, the only online profile I have is this instagram account with a verified tick (although it also looks like instagram are now selling verified ticks to anyone).
“Sorry. Love, peace and honesty.”
This is not the first time the … star has been targeted as he has previously been active in fighting the scammers online.
previously hit out at Meta – the owners of Facebook – for their ‘slow’ response to an charity scam which used his name in 2022.
This was after he was given an alert by the Sri Lankan-based dog charity We Care.
He had visited the site in for his Channel 5 show, New Lives In The Wild in 2013.
Someone created a fake Facebook account in his name and it used his visit to ask doe a donation via a personal PayPal account.
In 2024, he later issued a warning when scammers used one of his television appearances to promote a crypto scheme.
The TV presenter previously wrote on Instagram: “The Deepfake of me from This Morning that is circulating on Facebook advertising Crypto is a scam. This is a similar scam as highlighted by @martinlewismse.
“It can be difficult to police the internet’s Wild West, particularly when you have no one to help you, but I’d be grateful for people to report any suspicious accounts or ‘adverts’ to the relevant platforms.”
