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Police in Guelph, Ont., are reminding people to be wary of celebrity endorsements of financial investments after a woman in the city lost thousands.
Police say a woman clicked on a social media ad that appeared to be popular YouTube content creator Mr. Beast promoting an investment opportunity. Mr. Beast is known for wild challenges where he’ll give the winners large amounts of money.
The woman initially paid $250 to join the investment, then handed over more money as the scam continued.
At one point, she thought she spoke to Mr. Beast on the phone who encouraged her to put $5,000 in a cryptocurrency wallet address he provided.
In total, police say she lost $14,000.
“Residents are encouraged to be wary of any telephone call, email or text which requires you to take immediate action and to be suspicious of any supposed celebrity endorsement which can be easily faked with artificial intelligence,” police said.
Mr. Beast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has addressed the deep fake AI ads using his likeness. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, in Oct. 2023 he called it “a serious problem” after an AI-generated video showed him offering to give people the newest iPhone if they sent him $2.
Lots of people are getting this deepfake scam ad of me… are social media platforms ready to handle the rise of AI deepfakes? This is a serious problem pic.twitter.com/llkhxswQSw
Anyone who believes they’ve been a victim of this or a similar cyber fraud should contact police and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
