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Scam Video Of Fake Apple CEO Seen Amid iPhone 16 Launch
A deepfake of Apple CEO Tim Cook requested that viewers deposit cryptocurrency into a wallet address to execute the common “double-your-money” fraud.
YouTube was filled with livestreams showcasing deepfakes of Apple CEO Tim Cook, which promoted cryptocurrency schemes in the tech giant's livestream to unveil its most recent iPhone model.
In one of the Sept. 9 fake streams shared with X, an artificial intelligence posed as Apple CEO and requested that viewers send Bitcoin, Ether, Tether, or Dogecoin to a “contribution address.” The stream claimed that Apple would return double the amount.
“The system will automatically process your deposit and return double the amount of the cryptocurrency you deposited,” the AI-fake Apple CEO advised.
The videos are a prevalent “double-your-money” scheme that guarantees to return twice the amount of any cryptocurrency sent to a specific address. However, the funds are retained by the fraudsters.
One scam broadcast was displayed on a YouTube channel designed to resemble “Apple US,” with a legitimate verification tick.
Some bogus streams amassed hundreds of thousands of views, as evidenced by the videos and photographs shared with X. However, many of these views were probably generated by bots to legitimize the stream.
YouTube's support team acknowledged the scam in a post on September 9 X, encouraging users to submit the video using the official reporting tool.
The sham recordings are no longer accessible, and the accounts that were linked to them have been terminated.
YouTube did not promptly address a request for comment regarding the livestreams.
Boldness of deepfake scammers is on the rise
Scammers increasingly target high-profile individuals and events to defraud users by employing deepfake technology.
Crypto scammers seized the YouTube news channel of Seven, a prominent Australian broadcaster, in June. The scammers posted videos of a deep-fake Elon Musk discussing crypto.
YouTube was inundated with deepfake versions of Musk around the same time as the most recent launch of SpaceX's Starship rocket in the same month. These versions requested that users deposit cryptocurrency into a fraudulent double-your-money scheme.
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of individuals concerned about the content generated by artificial intelligence.
In the 2024 iteration of its “Global Risks Report,” the World Economic Forum emphasized the potential negative consequences of AI technologies.