During Apple's much-anticipated ‘Glowtime’ iPhone 16 event on September 9, crypto scammers took advantage of the hype by flooding YouTube with deepfake videos featuring Apple CEO Tim Cook.
These fraudulent videos showed Cook seemingly promoting crypto giveaways and investment schemes, asking viewers to send Bitcoin, Ether, and Tether via QR codes.
The deepfakes also replicated his voice and featured a website that closely resembled Apple’s official site.
Social media users, particularly on X, posted screen recordings of the scam videos, which appeared as people searched for live streams of Apple's event.
Though the videos have since been removed, many had already garnered thousands of views before they were taken down. A report by CoinTelegraph confirmed the widespread attention these videos received.
Users who came across the deepfakes expressed serious concerns about the increasing misuse of AI technologies like deepfakes. YouTube also faced backlash for failing to filter out such scam content, which can cause significant financial harm. Although YouTube did not release a formal statement, they responded to a report on the issue, advising users to report the video using the platform's official tools.
This incident is part of a growing trend where crypto scammers use deepfake videos of prominent figures to lure victims into fraudulent schemes. Similar tactics were used earlier this year with deepfake videos of Elon Musk promoting a crypto giveaway on a hacked Australian news channel.
The cryptocurrency space, known for its volatility and difficulty in tracing transactions, has become a popular target for scammers. Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, have warned about the rise in crypto-related fraud. The FBI recently revealed that the global crypto community lost over $5.6 billion to scams in 2023, a 45% increase from the previous year.
Experts, including Microsoft President Brad Smith, have voiced concerns about the dangers of deepfakes, calling for stricter regulations and security measures around AI to prevent such scams from becoming even more widespread.