Scammers using deepfake technology to impersonate Elon Musk have conned a grieving son out of thousands of pounds from his inheritance.
John Cairns, from Huddersfield, lost £3,250 after falling for a Facebook video that falsely showed Musk—one of the world’s richest men—endorsing a new AI trading platform.
The case is part of a growing surge in celebrity deepfake scams, which have duped victims out of significant sums. Recent incidents have involved fraudulent AI-generated videos of Pierce Brosnan, Brad Pitt, and financial expert Martin Lewis.
Des lost £76,000 after falling victim to a scam advert on social media which used a deepfake of Martin Lewis and Elon Musk promoting an investment scheme, which does not exist.
Meeting @MartinSLewis as part of a special podcast about scams, Martin said Des was “brave and… pic.twitter.com/aF9T6RfRis
— BBC Radio 5 Live (@bbc5live) November 25, 2024
AI-Powered Elon Musk Investment Scam
Deepfake videos of Elon Musk are circulating on social media, luring unsuspecting investors to a fraudulent stock trading platform. These AI-generated clips promote a financial scam.
Quantum AI, a stock trading platform, is being promoted on Facebook using deepfake videos of the billionaire. RMIT University highlighted how authentic footage combined with an AI-generated voice creates the illusion of Musk’s endorsement.
A Father’s Inheritance, Lost To A Scam
Using some of the money he received from selling his late father’s home, Cairns, a 61-year-old senior contract manager for a cleaning company, decided to invest after seeing the Musk advert in 2023. He gave his contact details and then received a call from an ‘account manager’ who directed him to download MetaTrader 5, a legitimate trading platform that was being misused in the scam.
Along with the trading platform, he was instructed to install AnyDesk, which allows remote device access, before being persuaded to transfer money under the guise of testing the withdrawal process. ‘This was all new to me, I had the money there so I just went for it and made a payment of £250 into the account,’ Cairns said.
‘Making the minimum investment, I thought “what was the harm?”‘ he added. Cairns now feels that his vulnerable state of mind was a key factor in his being manipulated.
‘I was grieving for my dad, and they took advantage of that. I wasn’t thinking straight,’ he said. ‘I was wet behind the ears doing this, and I just wanted to dip my finger in the water with these investments and see how it would go. It ended up being a big dip in the water.’
How The Scammers Operate
He recounted how the ‘account manager’ initially guided him through several trades, falsely showing him a profit of £82. ‘This carried on for a while. I could see the profit I was making on the screen. He said if I wanted to make more, I should invest more.’
‘So, I transferred a further £1,490, and I could see the profit growing rapidly.’ Cairns requested a withdrawal to verify the process when pressured for a third investment. ‘He had no qualms about it and said I could withdraw at any time.’
‘I withdrew £82, which convinced me that the scheme was genuine, and so I deposited a further £1,510.’ When Cairns’s apparent earnings increased, the account manager became more aggressive, refusing to allow him any withdrawals.
‘When my investments had grown to about $5,000, I had asked if I could withdraw money and carry on by using the profit I had made. He said that would be a slow way to invest. He wanted me to invest in Tesla, Netflix, Starbucks – to increase my investment.’
The Heartbreaking Discovery
‘He said that what I wanted to do would take me too long to get where I wanted to be.’ The realisation that he might have been deceived came to Cairns after he told his daughter about his supposed £8090.45 ($10,000) profit earned in only two months during a lunch meeting, according to a report by DailyMail.
‘She was a bit sceptical. She searched the company name and saw reviews complaining about not being paid back. That set off alarm bells for me.’ At that moment, Cairns wanted to immediately stop investing, close his account, and get his money back.
The Damage Was Done
‘I just got palmed off with answers like ‘”you can’t make withdrawals while trading is still active”. I was constantly fobbed off, so in the end I took the hit, I took the loss,’ he said. Cairns now urges others to ignore videos showing celebrities promoting investments altogether.
‘I would rather have used the money investing through proper channels and with proper investigation and have something nice to retire with. It’s a shame because there are people that might have a bit of money and want to see if they can do better for themselves.’
‘In these times, there are a lot of families out there who will try anything to try and make a decent life for themselves and their family. They might even use £250 from their benefits, thinking they can make £2,000 over a couple of months, and then get scammed out of it,’ he explained.
Seeking Justice And Restitution
Cairns has sought assistance from solicitors at the National Fraud Helpline to attempt to recover his funds from Santander and Chase banks. ‘With the advancement of AI we are sadly seeing more of these types of deepfake scams using well known figures,’ said National Fraud Helpline solicitor Fiona Bresnen.
‘The Elon Musk video is incredibly convincing and we understand that thousands of people have fallen victim to this particular scam. It is becoming increasingly difficult for anyone to tell which investments are legitimate.’
‘When it comes to investment opportunities, our first piece of advice is always: if something looks too good to be true, it probably is,’ Bresnen continued. Cairns’s case is not unique; deepfake scammers frequently exploit the images of famous individuals.
Recently, a gallery owner in Nottingham lost her £30,000 business after falling victim to a deepfake of Pierce Brosnan. In France last month, a woman was tricked out of almost £700,000 by fraudsters posing as Brad Pitt.
