Andrew Forrest deepfake video scam targets Aussies
A new deepfake video of billionaire Andrew Forrest promoting a scam financial investment has hit the internet, as crime syndicates ramp up their targeting of Australians.
A new deepfake video of billionaire Andrew Forrest promoting a scam financial investment has hit the internet, as crime syndicates ramp up their targeting of Australians.
The 11-minute video has the fake Dr Forrest spruiking as “100 per cent genuine and 100 per cent legitimate” a fraudulent stock and cryptocurrency trading scheme.
The Australian last year revealed a new generation of deepfake videos of prominent Australians, created using artificial intelligence, were being used to promote financial scams on Facebook and other social media sites.
Doctored video footage of entrepreneur Dick Smith, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, TV host Allison Langdon, Dr Forrest, and Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, featured in the bogus videos.
The new scam video of Dr Forrest manipulates a legitimate recording of a “fireside chat” with the mining magnate shared by the Rhodes Trust on YouTube.
Dan Halpin, chief executive of online fraud investigation firm Cybertrace, detected it being circulated on Instagram. He is investigating if it was also run on Facebook. Both platforms are owned by Meta.
Australian business and political figures and celebrities are being used in the ads because “trusting Aussies” are relatively wealthy and are seen as easy targets for financial scams, he said. Australians reported losing more than $3bn to scams in 2022.
“I believe people will be fooled by this deepfake. The video is long and in many ways repetitive, which can be quite convincing, and appears to have been created by someone with knowledge of sales and marketing,” Mr Halpin said.
Victims who clicked on the fake Forrest video were taken to a website for Quantum AI, previously linked to scam ads featuring tech billionaire Elon Musk, Mr Halpin said.
In the video, the fake Dr Forrest tells people the “last few spots” in the scheme “will fill up really fast … Once the doors close, I won’t open them again. If any part of you wants to make money, you should be very excited”.
Dr Forrest has been on the front foot against Facebook, bringing criminal charges against parent company Meta over an alleged cryptocurrency advertising scam that used his image.
He has accused the tech giant of recklessly allowing the ads to appear on its site in 2019.
Lawyers for Meta pleaded not guilty in December to three counts of recklessly dealing in proceeds of crime. The case is due to return to the District Court in Western Australia on February 9.
Mr Halpin said victims who respond to scam ads have their details sold on to crime syndicates around the world. They are then bombarded with high-pressure calls aimed at convincing them to invest in schemes that appear legitimate but are entirely fraudulent.
Social media platforms were failing to provide users with adequate protection, he said.
“Governments around the world need to create and enforce laws specifically targeting the creation and distribution of malicious deepfakes,” he said.
“This includes penalties that deter individuals and groups from creating deepfakes and any platform that doesn’t take reasonable steps to prevent its publication, including social media.”
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