Australian Billionaire Andrew Forrest Targeted in Deepfake Crypto Scam

According to CryptoPotato, a doctored video of Australian mining magnate and businessman Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest on Facebook has been identified as the latest in a series of deepfakes used in deceptive advertisements, undermining trust in the media. Cybersecurity firm Cybertrace flagged the video, which appears to promote a fake crypto trading platform. The footage surfaced on Facebook, urging viewers to sign up for a fraudulent platform called 'Quantum AI,' which Cybertrace says is notorious for scams and financial deceit. The video altered Forrest's actions and mannerisms from a 'fireside chat' hosted by the Rhodes Trust in October 2023. Cybertrace discovered the deepfake on Facebook on January 27th, where an AI-modified version of the billionaire is shown endorsing a fraudulent crypto trading platform. Despite Facebook and Instagram's parent company Meta implementing a ban on deepfakes in early 2020, doctored clips continue to cause problems for unsuspecting users on the social media platforms. Forrest has criticized the social media giant for not doing enough to prevent scams and has pending criminal charges against Facebook for another crypto advertising scam that allegedly misused his image. Forrest expressed his frustration, stating, 'Facebook does nothing – that’s what I hope the legal actions I started will address, to make social media companies liable for the negligent way they run their ad platforms. I commenced legal proceedings almost two years ago out of concern for the innocent Australians being scammed on Facebook.' Deepfake scammers are on the rise, with MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor recently revealing that his team is working to remove around 80 counterfeit videos every day, many of which are designed to endorse various Bitcoin scams. Additionally, modified videos featuring well-known figures like billionaire Elon Musk have also appeared on social media. Some of these videos contain links to investment schemes, unauthorized products, or unrelated e-commerce sites that disappear after a few days. Artificial intelligence (AI) generated deepfake videos are increasingly becoming one of the top security threats worldwide. Data from Sumsub indicated that the proportion of deepfakes in North America saw a significant increase from 2022 to Q1 2023. In the United States, the proportion surged from 0.2% to 2.6%, while in Canada, it rose from 0.1% to 4.6%. Concurrently, instances of printed forgeries, accounting for 4% – 5% of all fraud in 2022, plummeted to 0% in the last quarter.