Cryptocurrency scammers using AI deep fake videos of Keir Starmer and Prince William to target victims

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world

Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

Deepfake videos of Sir Keir Starmer and Prince William are being used to promote financial scams on Meta platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

The artificial intelligence (AI) versions of the prime minister and the Prince of Wales have been used in more than 250 adverts promoting a scam cryptocurrency trading platform.

The fraudulent adverts, promoting a platform name “Immediate Edge”, suggest the project has been endorsed by the pair, and have reached more than 890,000 people on Facebook and Instagram.

The adverts were found by Fenimore Harper, a media insight and research firm, using Meta’s open-source AI software, called Llama 3.1.

When users clicked the fake link, it would lead them to a landing page asking for the victim’s name, phone number and email address.

They are then contacted and encouraged to deposit money into a fake online trading platform. Scammers typically show a fake portfolio making gains, encouraging victims to deposit more.

In one of the fake adverts, Sir Keir says: “Your life is about to change. I am Keir Starmer, prime minister of the United Kingdom and leader of the Labour Party. I have been waiting for you. Today is your lucky day. I don't know how you found this page, but you won't regret it.”

The advert claims that 45 individuals have been selected to earn "life-changing money" through a mysterious project. It promises to create daily earnings of £1,000, without needing any prior knowledge or special skills.

It emphasises “this is not a scam” and that Sir Keir himself does not need anything from the viewers.

In another fraudulent advertisement, the AI prince William said: “I am pleased to announce that I, Prince William, and the entire royal family fully support prime minister Keir Starmer’s initiative and his new platform.”

Up to £21,053 was spent on the ads which reached up to 891,834 people, according to data from Meta’s advertising platform. The fraudulent videos represent 43 per cent of all Meta adverts about Sir Keir, the research from Fenimore Harper found.

The research found that Google mistakingly promoted the disinformation. If a user searched for “immediate edge finance scam”, the result on Google was: “When it comes to Immediate Edge you can be assured that you are dealing with legitimate trading software.”

Marcus Beard, founder of Fenimore Harper, said: "Our findings show that more must be done to curb online disinformation. These campaigns can now impersonate well-known figures with ease, and sow disinformation online at an unprecedented rate.
They pose a huge risk to individuals, public figures, businesses and to our democracy.

“Transparency in online advertising following the 2016 presidential election helped to somewhat slow widespread sharing of false news. 8 years later, another step-change is needed.

“Recent events have shown how even small pieces of false information can cause serious harm if not addressed immediately. Platforms, the government, the public and the media all need to be doing more to support the healthy and safe online discussion.

“There's no silver bullet. A portfolio of measures need to be identified and implemented with haste. As a first step, we believe that even more transparency, from all online platforms, will allow the public to better scrutinise and understand the information they are being presented with.”

A spokesperson for Meta said: “Our systems detected and removed the vast majority of these adverts before this report was published. As part of our ads review process—which can include both automated and human reviews—we have several layers of analysis and detection, both before and after an ad goes live. It is against our policies to run ads that improperly use images of public or political figures for deceptive purposes, and we remove these ads when detected.”

A Google spokesperson said: “Our advanced spam-fighting systems help keep Google Search 99 per cent spam free, despite ever-evolving attempts from spammers. We have clear spam policies against deceptive tactics and when we find behavior that violates our policies, we take action.”