Lisbon, Oct. 15, 2025 (Lusa) - Financial literacy experts Bárbara Barroso and Pedro Braz warn that misinformation in this area has real and damaging effects on people's daily lives, highlighting the lack of financial literacy among the Portuguese population.
Bárbara Barroso, CEO and founder of the Money Lab school of financial literacy and education, explained to the Lusa news agency that "financial misinformation is all incorrect, incomplete or misleading information that negatively influences people's economic decisions".
Bárbara Barroso argues that easy access to digital information has increased the risks, since "anyone can be exposed to content about money, investments or financial products without knowing if they are reliable".
"This misinformation has real consequences, because it leads people to make wrong decisions, to distrust legitimate institutions unfairly or, at the extreme, to fall for fraudulent schemes," says the CEO.
The head of the education project explains that financial misinformation can manifest itself in various ways, from "viral messages that promise quick and guaranteed gains, to fraudulent schemes masquerading as legitimate opportunities".
On 11 September, Lusa Verifica reported that several fake videos of Luís Montenegro, Mário Centeno and Paulo Macedo, among other public figures, were circulating on social media to promote scams linked to supposed trading platforms that promise millionaire profits to anyone who invests €250.
From her experience, the expert emphasises that "the elderly are one of the most vulnerable groups to financial misinformation, often due to their lack of familiarity with the digital world and the fact that they easily trust messages that appear credible, but which may hide fraud or bad practices".
Barbará Barroso emphasises that financial literacy is the front line in the fight against disinformation, although Portugal still has a long way to go in this area.
"In a world where information circulates quickly, but not always truthfully, financial education is the filter that separates the real from the illusory, the safe from the dangerous," she says.
Bárbara Barroso also criticises the lack of accessible, educational communication by some institutions, which leaves room for confusion and mistrust.
For his part, Pedro Braz, co-founder of the Financial Literacy project, argues that misinformation doesn't just come from social networks.
"Often, it is also born at bank branches themselves, when customers receive partial or biased advice," he told Lusa.
From this perspective, the head of the financial literacy project emphasises that one of the "most dangerous" disinformation narratives is the belief that there are magic formulas for getting rich.
Pedro Braz points out that information is one of the main weapons in the fight against financial disinformation, as it gives you the "ability to think critically, to question what you hear and to recognise what is real and what is an empty promise".
In terms of financial literacy, the expert explains that Portugal has made progress, "but it's still far from ideal".
"The majority of Portuguese still have difficulties with basic concepts of personal finance," he says.
According to a Eurobarometer by the European Commission, Portugal is among the countries with the lowest levels of financial literacy in Europe, with only 11% of the population having high financial literacy.
PYR/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
