A minority of people have acted on financial advice they’ve seen on social media but the majority lost money as a result, according to a new study.

TSB research found that more than four fifths, 83%, have seen financial advice content on social media that they weren’t searching for.

Almost a third, 31%, acted on the financial advice they saw but more than half, 55%, said they lost money as a consequence.

Wisdom about questionable social media financial advice appears to come with age, according to the survey results. Of those that had seen financial advice on social media platforms, more than half, 53%, trusted the content, with 25-34-year-olds the most trusting at 70%. In comparison, over 55s were the least trusting with only 27%.

Younger people were much more likely to act on the social media advice they’d seen with almost three quarters, 73%, of 25-34s likely to act or have acted, compared to just over a quarter, 27%, of over 55s.

The research found that nine in 10 had seen an investment opportunity on social media, and more than two-fifths, 43%, said would consider investing as a result. 25-34-year olds were the most likely to invest at 69%, compared to just 18% of over 55s. 

Just over a third, 36%, of the social media cases started on Facebook, followed by TikTok at 17%, Telegram, 17%, Instagram, 14% and WhatsApp, 14%. Facebook and WhatsApp accounted for the biggest losses at 36%, and 35% respectively.

More than two-fifths, 43%, felt worse about their finances after seeing posts about wealth on social media. Two-thirds, 67%, of 16-24-year-olds felt worse compared to just over a fifth, 22%, of over 55s. More than half, 53%, of 25-34-year-olds felt compelled to take out a product, or invest as a result; while Just 13% of over 55s felt the need to change behaviours and act.

Surina Somal, director of everyday banking, TSB, said: “While there could be useful sources of financial advice on social media platforms; there are also pitfalls through incorrect information and unregulated investments that could derail finances.’

Jenny Ross, Which? Money editor, said: "Having a large following on social media doesn't mean that someone can be trusted to give financial advice. In the worst cases, they may even be promoting scams.”

Last month the FCA led a global crackdown on rogue social media financial influencers, known as finfluencers.

The regulator warned that some social media personalities claim to have lavish lifestyles on online videos and posts to push products or services illegally.

In a separate action, the Treasury Committee wrote to Meta to ask it to explain its approach to finfluencers after the owner of Facebook and Instagram took up to six weeks to respond to FCA requests to take down suspect posts.

• The research was conducted by Censuswide, among a sample of 1815 Consumers who use social media. The data was collected between 2020 June and 23 June.