Elon Musk Deepfake Used in YouTube Live Video to Push Cryptocurrency Scam; Attracts Over 30,000 Viewers

New Delhi, June 25: A YouTube Livestream was the stage for a cryptocurrency scam that employed a deepfake of Elon Musk to deceive viewers. The five hour long broadcast featured an AI-generated version of Elon Musk's voice, instructing viewers to deposit their Bitcoin, Ethereum or Dogecoin on a specific website for a giveaway. The scam promised that the system would "automatically send back double the amount of the cryptocurrency you deposited."

As per a report of Times Now, the deepfake Elon Musk broadcast attracted over 30,000 viewers at its peak, placing it at the top of YouTube's Live Now recommendations. However, these numbers may have been artificially boosted by bots. The account behind the scam, @elon.teslastream, had an Official Artist Channel verification badge, suggesting a potential account hack. X Premium Gift: Elon Musk’s Social Platform Shares Additional Details on Gifting Premium or Premium+ Subscription to Users; Know Process, Eligibility and More.

A video that has been removed from the internet showed an AI-created version of Elon Musk appearing to broadcast live from a Tesla event. Scammers have been making more and more of these types of fake videos featuring Elon Musk lately. They often use accounts pretending to be Musk's companies to try to trick people. The recent scam was titled "Tesla unveils a masterpiece: The Tesla that will change the car industry forever." Elon Musk Pressurises X CEO Linda Yaccarino To Boost Sales and Cut Costs, She Fires Her ‘Right-Hand’ Joe Benarroch: Report.

Scams involving cryptocurrency have been targeting followers of Elon Musk on social media for a long time. However, this problem is not limited to Elon Musk alone. Other famous people have also been victims of these kinds of scams. For example, rapper 50 Cent was recently victimised by a hack that utilised his accounts to execute a pump-and-dump scheme. These incident highlights the growing threat of deepfake technology being used for malicious purposes, as well as the ongoing challenge of combating cryptocurrency scams targeting celebrities and their followers on social media platforms.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 25, 2024 10:13 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).