Cybercriminals have reportedly used deepfakes of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Prince William in more than 250 Meta adverts designed to trick victims into handing over funds to crypto scams.
That’s according to Fenimore Harper, an analytical body founded by a former member of the UK Treasury. It found that 43% of all Keir Starmer-based Meta ads since the UK election were tied to crypto scams.
It also used data from Meta’s advertising page to determine that these adverts reached up to 891,834 people.
The adverts use artificial intelligence to mimic Starmer’s voice and alter filmed footage to create a deepfake that purports to show him promoting a scam called Immediate Edge. In some cases, a deepfake of Prince William is also shown endorsing the fake promotion.
One of the crypto scam adverts recorded by Fenimore Harper.
Fenimore Harper claims these adverts are appearing at the top of Google search results within its ‘featured snippets’ segment by using SEO-hacking techniques.
One of the promotions claimed, “Now it’s a reality, I, Keir Starmer, am officially announcing the launch of the new National Invest Platform,” and suggested visitors can make money in their sleep by investing in crypto through the platform.
Unlucky victims are convinced to hand over their contact details and invest with the help of exaggerated graphs that show fake returns. Victims are unable to withdraw their funds.
The scammers in question are said to have spent £21,025 (almost $27,000) on the scheme. Currencies across 14 nations were used to buy the ads, with USD and Thai Baht representing roughly 75% of the spend.
“This campaign shows that the disinformation on Meta’s platform is getting worse, not better,” Fenimore Harper said. At the time of the report’s publication, it found 15 crypto scam adverts under the same campaign were still online.
