Australians are increasingly being caught out by fake celebrity endorsement scams, with complaints to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Scamwatch website rising 400 per cent this year.

More worrying, losses reported by consumers who have been caught up in these sham celebrity endorsements have risen 3800 per cent so far this year.

You may come across these sorts of scams through online ads or promo stories shared on social media.

They typically feature fake quotes or doctored images of celebrities promoting anything from weight loss pills to investment schemes.

You’d think in these social media-driven days that younger Australians would be most vulnerable.

But it turns out people aged 45 and older account for 63 per cent of money lost to celebrity scams. 

The problem for ordinary Australians is it is very difficult to pick fake ads or websites from the real thing.

I suspect most of us are aware that Prince Harry’s image won’t be used to flog dodgy products any time soon.

That hasn’t stopped scammers using many other household names to ply their trade. 

As the ACCC has noted, it would help if some of the world’s biggest tech giants helped crackdown on these fake ads. In the meantime, all of us should maintain a healthy degree of scepticism.

Paul Clitheroe is chairman of InvestSMART, chairman of the Australian Government Financial Literacy Board and chief commentator for Money Magazine.