On September 9, hackers exploited Apple’s highly anticipated “Glowtime” event using Deepfake Tim Cook to run live streams promoting a double-your-cryptocurrency scam.
September 9 was a significant day for the tech behemoth Apple, as millions of individuals worldwide anticipated the “Glowtime” event, which would unveil the new iPhone. Scammers capitalized on this opportunity by conducting numerous live broadcasts that advocated for the conventional double-your-crypto scam.
At one point, one of the broadcasts attracted over 355,000 viewers, who were misled into sending cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum to a wallet address controlled by the scammers. This was achieved by utilizing an AI-altered old Tim Cook interview. The stream has since been deleted.
AI-generated voice impersonating during the live stream Cook characterized the fraudulent scheme as a “ideal opportunity for beginners to participate and become acquainted with the world of cryptocurrencies.”
Another live stream was broadcast on a YouTube account with the verification checkmark and the name Apple US, in an attempt to impersonate the official channel of the tech titan. In the interim, other streams were broadcasting from accounts that were entirely unrelated to technology.
A QR code was present in all of the videos, and upon scanning it, users were directed to a malicious website that was intended to deceive them. As of the time of this writing, one of the fraud websites was still operational, and the homepage displayed numerous wallet addresses for a variety of cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, DOGE, and USDT.
The website also included a fabricated transaction history that was automatically updated to create the illusion that individuals were actually transferring their funds. This was done to increase the credibility of the website.
The YouTube support team acknowledged the incident and encouraged users to report the videos using the reporting tool after several users began reporting the scam live broadcasts. The platform has since removed the videos.
Scammers Exploiting YouTube
As has been observed on numerous occasions, YouTube has served as a hunting ground for deepfake fraudsters. Fraudsters disseminated a similar scheme across numerous YouTube channels that were rebranded to resemble SpaceX during the April 8 solar eclipse, impersonating Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
YouTube has not yet issued an official statement regarding the platform’s misuse. However, in 2020, the platform was subjected to legal action when Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, along with 17 other victims, filed a lawsuit against YouTube. The lawsuit sought the removal of scams that impersonated them in order to promote bogus Bitcoin giveaways.
Based on a June 2024 report from Bitget, the number of deepfake schemes has increased by 245% this year, resulting in approximately $80 billion in losses.
This alarming trend has prompted regulators to take action, as a new bill suggests that AI providers, such as OpenAI, must mandate that users include origin information in all AI-generated content to improve transparency and accountability.
