TikTok gurus made property investing look easy. I lost thousands

By Will Coldwell

One night in early 2019 a young student from eastern Europe was browsing YouTube in his bedroom just outside London, when he stumbled across a video that promised to change his life. It was presented by a baby-faced British man called Samuel Leeds, who explained that freedom from financial worries was within anyone’s reach. They just had to play the property market.

Simon, the student, a quiet 20-year-old with glasses and reddish-brown hair, didn’t feel like a property mogul in the making  – he was temporarily living in a friend’s spare room. But he found himself clicking on more videos. “How to buy UK property with NO MONEY”. “How to start in property as a STUDENT”. “From NOTHING to financial freedom in 2 MONTHS”. Simon watched, intrigued, as Leeds outlined various ways of “tapping into money” such as bridging loans, joint ventures and credit cards.