An online article, designed to replicate an article by The Mirror and posted through a video advert on Facebook, claims that the government has censored an episode of Dragons’ Den that featured an oil investment scheme which could earn UK citizens more than £7,000 a day. This is highly suspicious and readers should beware of believing it.
The article, headlined “‘Dragon’s Den’ makes British citizens rich with oil! This episode had to be taken offline – producers are fuming!” looks like a page from the website of The Mirror. However, the page does not function in the same way as The Mirror’s real website, with a click on any of the links in the article leading to a sign-up form at the bottom of the page. The URL, or website address, also shows that the article is not really on The Mirror’s website.
Full Fact could not find any version of this article on The Mirror’s real website.
A shortened version of the page URL also links back to a website called Ukfuture which consists of 25 news posts—many of which appear simply to be copy-and-paste versions of articles taken from news sites such as the BBC, the Guardian and Australian broadcaster Nine News.
The aim of the article appears to be to persuade the reader to sign up to what it says is “an automated oil trading platform” called Oil Profit. This is described at one point as a “reputable British broker”. We could find no mention of a brokerage called Oil Profit on Companies House, indicating that it has not been registered as a real business in the UK.
Another indication that the claims made in the article are suspicious is the source of the post—a page for what appears to be a furniture shop with no linked website or contact details. The page has just four publicly available posts, all of which were published on the same day, 26 February—the same day the page was created.
Scams that resemble this have been documented in the past. Which? magazine posted a video in November 2019 specifically looking at adverts featuring Dragons’ Den stars supposedly promoting bitcoin investments. While the new article we checked features contemporary references such as the 17th series of Dragon’s Den, which finished airing in March 2020, and the Covid-19 crisis, the approach based on a trading platform supposedly recommended by Dragons Den investors appears to be extremely similar.
The link shared on Facebook also appears to alternate between the Mirror story and a different story, which falsely claims that Deborah Meaden has made more than £11m through a Bitcoin scheme.
In a statement on her website Meaden addressed claims about her supposed investment in Bitcoin. “I have made no such investments and have no such associations,” she said, adding that she is in the process of taking action against people who used her name and image to promote the scams.
Since it asks people for money, and is promoted by a false Mirror article and another false story about Deborah Meaden, this scheme is very suspicious and readers should be cautious.