Two Canadians lost a combined $2.3 million to an AI-enabled deepfake cryptocurrency investment scheme using fake videos of Elon Musk and Dragon's Den content.
Two Canadians from Ontario and Prince Edward Island lost a combined $2.3 million to a deepfake cryptocurrency investment scheme. The Ontario victim, a 51-year-old woman from Markham, lost $1.7 million after being deceived by a fake Elon Musk video on Facebook. She initially sent $250 and was shown a $30 gain after two days, which encouraged further deposits. She eventually applied for nearly a million dollars against her home equity, sending $350,000 twice, and borrowed $500,000 from family and friends while maxing out credit cards. The scammers displayed a fake balance of $3 million and demanded taxes and fees before withdrawal. The Prince Edward Island victim lost $600,000 after watching a clip falsely linked to Dragon's Den, starting with $250 and eventually sending $10,000 per day. He was also shown a fake balance of over $1 million with blocked withdrawal attempts. According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, Canadians have lost $1.2 billion to investment scams over three years. The fraud operations are described as industrial-scale networks often involving trafficked victims forced to work in scam compounds in Southeast Asia.
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.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed