What are the main beats/topics that you cover?

Fraud and scams.

What formats do you work across?

Print, digital and podcast. I write for Which? magazine as well as Which? Money and Which? Tech.

Tell us about the articles/scoops you’re most proud of or any recent highlights?

My expose of Action Fraud's failings (Which? Money 2019) featured evidence from a police whistleblower and won Headlinemoney Personal Finance Story of the Year 2020. 

More recently I've highlighted (Which? Tech 2024) how the telecoms industry's speedy recycling of mobile numbers between customers is leading to serious cybersecurity risks for many - and seeing some vulnerable people's emergency phones cut off. 

My expose of a prolific car-leasing scam on Instagram - and Meta's failure to remove it for almost a year - was a lead story recently on BBC Morning Live. 

And research by myself and my colleague Chiara Cavaglieri (Which? banking and savings expert) to expose Revolut's fraud deluge featured in Panorama's recent episode ' Britain's Newest Bank: How Safe Is Your Money?'

In your time as a money writer, how has the industry changed? Have these changes been positive/negative?

The decline in print subs/sales - and the difficulty in monetising digital content instead - feels like an intractable problem for the entire industry.

How can PRs help you with your work?

I'm eager to work with anyone who has spotted a genuinely new trend in fraud and scams, or has a truly fresh angle on a more well-known fraud issue.

When are the best/worst times for PRs/press offices to contact you?

Longer-term features and investigations (where the research spans several months) are a big part of my role. For investigative tip-offs, timing isn't much of an issue.

For quick turnaround news stories, earlier in the week is ideal as I work condensed hours Monday-Thursday. 

What’s the best lesson you learned from someone you’ve worked with?

Forgive your own mistakes. Absorb the lesson and move on. Without self-compassion, it's harder to find the courage to take risks in future work. (Like all good advice, this is much harder to do than it is to glibly trot out...)

What is the strangest story or assignment you’ve ever been sent on as a journalist?

For an investigation into pricey commemorative coins, I suggested to my editor that we could take one such coin claiming to be issued by the extremely remote island of Tristan da Cunha, travel there and try to buy a packet of crisps with it. Sadly that never came to pass...

In terms of bizarre scams, I've seen it all. A creepy porcelain doll apparently ordered via identity theft. A fraudster posing in a front garden with pruning shears in order to intercept a parcel. A threat to arrest someone who did not urgently purchase £1,500 in iTunes giftcards.

If you could interview anyone in the financial world, who would it be?

I've always wanted to interview an active scammer or knowing money mule still at large.

Are there any pieces of financial services research you’d like to see commissioned?

I'd like to know definitively what proportion of fraud in the UK and worldwide emanates from the big tech platforms - and how those fraud losses compare to the economic contribution those platforms make.

When you’re telling a story, what’s the most important thing to remember?

Make people care. 

Sum up your time as a financial journalist in three words:

No stone unturned. 

Do you have something that you’re secretly really good at?

Rumination.

What’s your top petty gripe?

People who park up somewhere quiet to have deafening calls on loudspeaker in their car.

Finally, if you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

Eggs Royale, because it's divine.