"Yikes. Def not me."
Uncanny Valley
A deepfaked video crypto scammers are using to convince their marks that SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has started a new investment platform is just realistic enough to look super creepy — and it's even swindled a handful of people already.
A netizen posted the short clip online yesterday and tagged Musk, warning that the scam had gone viral already. The video is edited footage of a real interview Musk did, his mouth movements synced to a fake script. His overly-bright eyes roll around as the deepfake simitate Musk's voice and body language.
"Yikes. Def not me," Musk tweeted in response, confirming he hadn't, in fact, founded the fake crypto trading platform called BitVex.
Elon Musk's deep fake video promoting a new cryptocurrency scam going viral. The video claims that the trading platform is owned by Elon Musk, and offers 30% returns on crypto deposits. @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/iJeUvHYc5p
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) May 24, 2022
Gone Forever
Tech blog Bleeping Computer reported this week that the scam campaign has targeted more than just Musk fans, edited videos to make it seem as if famous financial experts including Cathie Wood, Brad Garlinghouse, Michael Saylor, and Charles Hoskinson started or support the fake trading service.
Although the videos are imperfect, they're still kind of working. BC says it found evidence of around $2,000 in deposits to the ersatz platform, but that it's possible even more has been taken.
It's unlikely the crypto space will ever be completely rid of scammers and hackers, and the news comes on the heels of yesterday's report that the most famous NFT artist got hacked and his followers got ripped off. That's all on top of a declining and unstable overall market.
More on Elon Musk: Tesla Investors Getting Tired of Elon Musk's "Circus Show"
Share This Article