Malicious actors created a deepfake AI video of Western Australia Premier Roger Cook endorsing a fraudulent investment scheme, which was distributed as a pop-up advertisement on YouTube to deceive viewers into investing in a scam promising high returns.
Western Australia's consumer watchdog issued a warning about an investment scam using deepfake AI technology to create a fraudulent video advertisement featuring Premier Roger Cook. The pop-up video appeared on YouTube and showed an AI-generated version of Mr Cook endorsing a 'low investment, high return' opportunity, claiming users could see average returns of around $19,200 from an initial $400 investment within their first month. The deepfake technology used Mr Cook's likeness and voice, placing him behind a dark wooden desk in what appeared to be his office setting. Consumer Protection Commissioner Trish Blake noted that the ad's presentation as a quick pop-up made it harder for viewers to identify red flags like mismatched lip movements and unusual hand appearances. The watchdog was alerted to the scam on Friday morning by a member of the public, and they were able to contact the domain holder to request removal. However, Blake described the situation as a 'giant game of whack-a-mole' where new scam ads appear as quickly as others are taken down. She noted that the technology has become so sophisticated that creating deepfakes requires only 10 seconds of video and voice footage, making detection nearly impossible for the human eye. Premier Cook expressed distress at seeing his image used fraudulently and clarified that the government does not endorse investment schemes.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed