Scammers created deepfake videos of banned Australian naturopath Barbara O'Neill falsely endorsing prostate and erectile dysfunction cures, using these AI-generated impersonations to advertise fraudulent health products and phishing scams on social media platforms.
Scammers used AI deepfake technology to create fake videos of Barbara O'Neill, a banned Australian naturopath, falsely endorsing cures for prostate problems and erectile dysfunction. The deepfake videos circulated widely on Facebook, with one post receiving over a million views by November 2024. The videos featured low-resolution footage of O'Neill appearing to say 'Your erection will return and remain strong even after 80 if you take one capsule before bed.' Multiple versions used the same audio over different video footage of O'Neill speaking and circulated across Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. The deepfakes were easily identifiable due to audio being out of sync with mouth movements and robotic-sounding speech. The fraudulent videos were posted by small Facebook accounts running multiple advertisements across different languages, linking to fake copies of legitimate health websites like Mayo Clinic and Healthline for phishing scams, or directly selling products like 'Vital Grow XL' gummies. O'Neill herself has warned about AI impersonations of her, stating she does not have a Facebook page. The scammers exploited O'Neill's existing online following despite her 2018 ban from giving health advice in Australia for being an unregistered practitioner who posed 'a risk to the health or safety of members of the public.'
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