Bank of England warns against scams and fake advertisements

LONDON - The Bank of England warned the public to be alert for scams on Tuesday after a fake video and images circulated on social media purporting to show Governor Andrew Bailey brawling with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage on a TV set.

Images available on Elon Musk's X platform on Tuesday linked through to web pages showing a pretend BBC News article which promoted a financial trading scheme which the article claimed could turn £250 ($335) into £1 million within 11 weeks.

"Unfortunately, fake adverts impersonating the Bank of England and other central banks are on the rise. These scams are designed to criminally exploit the public, especially the vulnerable, when they are online," Bailey said in a statement issued by the central bank on Tuesday.

In a post on X late on Monday, Farage -- whose populist party leads opinion polls -- said: "You may have seen some bizarre AI videos on this platform today. Whilst Andrew Bailey and I have our disagreements, I would never take it that far!"

One image circulating on Tuesday showed Farage appearing to kick Bailey while he was on the ground, while another showed the politician pulling a gun on the BoE governor in a scene made to look like the set of BBC discussion show "Question Time".

Other images showed Farage throwing a glass of water at Bailey or the pair jostling, with Farage being restrained by security guards or police.

In real life, the disagreements between Farage and Bailey have been more civil, centring around the BoE's handling of bond sales, a lack of business people on its rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee and its work on climate change.

($1 = 0.7472 pounds)

(Reporting by David Milliken and Muvija M, Editing by William Maclean)