Scammers use a deepfake of Tim Cook to promote cryptocurrency fraud at the iPhone 16 event

Scammers used a deepfake of Apple CEO Tim Cook to run a fake cryptocurrency scheme at the launch event for the iPhone 16 on September 9. These fake livestreams, which showed up next to Apple’s real program on YouTube, told people to send different coins with the promise of getting twice as much in return.

In the fake videos, an AI version of Tim Cook made people believe that if they sent Bitcoin, Ether, Tether, or Dogecoin to a certain wallet address, their payments would be doubled. Another name for this type of scam is a “double your money” plan. Its goal is to steal money by offering false returns.

The fake livestreams started around the same time as Apple’s “Glowtime” event, where the new iPhone models were shown off. “Apple US” made some fake videos look like official streams, complete with a check mark to make them look more real. Many of these streams probably had their numbers boosted by bots to make them look more famous, even though they seem real.

The problem was reported to YouTube’s support team, who quickly took action by removing the fake videos and closing the accounts that were linked to them. Also, they told people to report material that seemed odd. Even though the streams were taken down, the episode shows how deepfake technology is being used more and more in online scams.

This case is part of a worrying trend in which con artists target famous people and events with deepfake technology. There have been similar events involving other famous people, such as a deepfake of Elon Musk pushing cryptocurrency scams during SpaceX’s Starship rocket launch earlier this year.

As AI gets better, the chances of deepfake scams keep going up. This makes people worry about the safety and reliability of digital material.