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Scammers are using fake celebrity videos to steal fans.
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Fake photos of police arresting Robert Irwin were used to create a false investment opportunity.
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Scams like these stole more than $8 million in Australia alone.
Scammers in Australia are using fake photos and videos of celebrities to steal from people in increasingly creative ways.
Australians have lost up to $8 million to scammers using fraud on online investment platforms this year, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Scammers use fake news articles and fake videos to make people believe that a celebrity is asking for a large sum of money.
In An exampleScammers shared fake photos of Robert Irwin — son of the late “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin – handcuffed, accompanied by an article titled “Is this the end of his career? Robert Irwin didn’t know the camera was still rolling.”
The fake article informs readers that a bank has taken legal action against Irwin over comments he made about a crypto trading platform. It then promises to make readers rich if they invest $375 on this platform.
“We urge Australians to take their time and do their research before taking up an investment opportunity – especially those seen on social media,” ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe said in a statement.
Surprising investment opportunities on fake online crypto trading platforms, especially those claiming to use “artificial intelligence or other emerging technologies”, are an increasingly common fraudulent tactic, says ACCC.
At least one Australian lost more than $50,000 worth of cryptocurrency after registering his details through an online form he saw in a fake Elon Musk interview on social media, Lowe said.
Last month, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission also warned about a fake cryptocurrency exchange using deepfake videos of Elon Musk, who also claimed to leverage AI in his software.
The FTC says most scams in the United States start on social media, with scammers trying to get victims to pay for bitcoin investments so their crimes can’t be tracked.
“Investment scams are one of the main ways scammers trick you into buying cryptocurrencies and sending them to the scammers,” says the FTC. “But scammers also pose as companies, government agencies and love interests, among other tactics.”
“Deepfakes” use AI to replace a person’s image in a video or audio clip. One quick way to detect a deepfake is to make a reverse image search and verify the true origin of an image.
The best way to avoid a crypto scam is to never trust someone who will only accept payments in crypto or who promises large profit returns on an investment, says the FTC.
Read the original article at Business Insider
