An elderly man from Lurgan, County Armagh, lost £35,000 in cryptocurrency scams that used AI-generated fake advertisements on social media, leaving him feeling “broken.”

Eddie Rushe, 82, fell victim to three separate scams over 18 months.

His son, Michael, said his father was “groomed” by the scammers, who he believes were part of an organized network.

Despite feeling embarrassed, Mr. Rushe wants to raise awareness about what scammers are capable of.

New figures from UK Finance show that fraudsters and payment scammers stole £629.3 million in the first half of 2025, up 3% from around £611 million in the same period in 2024.

Before November 2023, Mr. Rushe’s life focused on his family and his greyhounds. He did not own a computer and had no knowledge of cryptocurrency.

That changed when he saw social media ads promoting an investment opportunity, believing the adverts were endorsed by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, broadcaster Piers Morgan, and finance expert Martin Lewis, whose faces were used in the fake ads.

Mr. Rushe said he acted out of a desire to leave a “nest egg” for his family: “When I leave this life, I want them to say I looked after them while I was alive, and I continued looking after them even after I was gone.”

After seeing the ads, Mr. Rushe contacted the scammers by phone. His son described the way they lured his father into investing as “grooming.”

A woman named Sophie was assigned as his “financial adviser,” calling him daily, sometimes twice a day.

She first persuaded him to close his bank account and open another at a different bank, then advised him to buy a laptop to access his crypto account more easily. After taking photos of his driver’s license, she guided him to open a second online bank account.

After three months and hundreds of calls, Sophie led Mr. Rushe through transferring £13,000 to the scammers’ online account, after which the calls stopped and the money disappeared.

Mr. Rushe later suffered a stroke after falling and hitting his head. His son believes the stress from admitting he had been scammed contributed to the stroke.

A year later, his father was targeted twice more, losing an additional £20,000. Michael noted significant deterioration in his father’s mental and physical health and continues to work with the Financial Ombudsman Service to recover some of the lost money.

Although scam calls continue daily, Mr. Rushe now knows not to answer.