Hong Kong warns of Elon Musk deepfake crypto scams

• Hong Kong authorities warned about a scam using deepfake Elon Musk videos to trick investors.
• The group claimed to provide an AI-driven cryptocurrency trading service.
• This is not the first time scammers have used deepfake versions of Elon Musk.

No, Elon Musk didn’t create the shady crypto trading website that a random person on Facebook is telling you to invest in.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission issued a warning last week about deepfake scams. According to the statement, a group calling itself Quantum AI or AI Quantum, is using deepfake videos of Elon Musk to trick people into thinking he is behind the software.

The group is not to be confused with NASA’s Quantum AI Lab (QuAIL), which focuses on quantum computing research.

As the technology behind artificial intelligence advances, scammers are increasingly using deepfakes to dupe their victims into handing over cash.

“Deepfakes” leverage artificial intelligence to mimic the face and voice of a person in a video or audio clip. Scammers will use deepfakes to set up video calls with victims. They then use a webcam paired with software that changes their facial features to look like the person with whom the victim thinks they are communicating.

The notorious Nigerian scam group, The Yahoo Boys, for example, uses deepfakes to trick people into romance scams.

The group in Hong Kong claimed to provide a cryptocurrency trading service using underlying artificial intelligence. But Hong Kong authorities said they suspect it is a front for “virtual asset related fraudulent activities.” The group used three websites and two Facebook pages to run its crypto scams, the warning says.

Authorities said the group used deepfake videos of Musk to deceive victims into thinking that he was the developer of the technology, lending the fake company an air of legitimacy. They even went as far as creating a fake “news” website to promote false information about the service, authorities said.

Hong Kong police shut down all of its websites and social media pages, according to Crypto News. The Hong Kong Police Force did not return a request for comment from BI.

It’s not the first time scammers have used deepfakes of Musk to steal money from their victims. In April, a South Korean woman said she lost $50,000 after scammers pretending to be Musk reached out to her on Instagram. She even held a video call with whom she thought was the ubiquitous billionaire.

“‘Musk even said ‘I love you, you know that?’ when we made a video call,” the woman told 60 Minutes of the deepfaked conversation.