Celebrity deepfake investment scams: fake ads that push you to invest

Ads in which a celebrity recommends investing in a platform that “made them rich” are fake: no real celebrity sells you an investment through a social media ad. FINRA, the US brokerage regulator, warns that fraudsters use AI to clone voices, alter images and create fake videos to promote fake investments. In July 2023, a deepfake of Martin Lewis, the UK's best-known consumer finance expert, circulated on Facebook pushing a supposed Elon Musk-backed project; his answer was blunt: “I don't advertise, I don't do investment.” You don't need to be able to spot a deepfake. You only need to know that every one of these ads ends at an unauthorized firm that wants your details and your money.

How does the fake celebrity investment scam work?

Almost all of them follow the same route:

1. The hook. An ad or post on social media with a celebrity's face, often under an alarming headline: “the interview they don't want you to see,” or even a photo of the celebrity supposedly “arrested.”
2. The fake news story. The click leads to a page that copies the design of a well-known news outlet, with an invented interview in which the celebrity reveals the platform.
3. The video or the voice. This is where the deepfake comes in: a video or audio clip in which AI imitates the face and voice of a celebrity or a public figure. In the Martin Lewis ad, his fake likeness called the scheme “legit” and a “great investment.”
4. The form. The “story” links to the website of an unauthorized firm that asks for your name, email and phone number.
5. The call. An “account manager” calls you, asks for a small first deposit, shows you gains on a screen and asks for more. When you try to withdraw, fees and taxes appear out of nowhere.

This isn't theory. Lewis told BBC Radio 4 that his name and face had been used in scam ads “for many years,” that he gets countless reports every day, and that friends had contacted him saying they'd just put money into “that investment scheme you're advertising.” The deepfake only made the lie more convincing. FINRA adds that the same technology is used to fake a CEO announcing false news to move a stock price, and to build realistic websites and marketing materials for fraudulent schemes.

How to spot a fake celebrity ad or deepfake crypto scam

The red flags that matter aren't technical:

• A celebrity tells you how to get rich. That's the main red flag. A celebrity who promotes an investment is selling, not advising, and with these ads the celebrity doesn't even know their face is being used.
• Fast, guaranteed gains thanks to “artificial intelligence,” an “algorithm” or a “trading bot.” As the FCA puts it, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
• The website isn't the outlet's. Read the full address: if it claims to be the BBC, CNN or a sports site and the address is something else, it's fake.
• Urgency and exclusivity. “Only for the first 100,” “closes today,” “private group with limited spots.”
• They ask for your details so someone can call you. No serious investment starts with a form inside a news story.
• The firm isn't registered. In the US, look it up on FINRA BrokerCheck and Investor.gov; in the UK, on the FCA Register and the FCA Warning List.

If you still want to look at the video, there are signs of manipulation: lips that don't quite match the voice, a flat voice or an odd accent, strange blinking, blurry edges around the face. But deepfakes get better every month, and your eyes aren't a reliable test. What's reliable is checking somewhere else: the celebrity's official account, the outlet's home page and the regulator's register.

What should you do if you see one?

1. Don't click and don't leave your details.
2. Report the ad on the social network from its options menu (“Report ad”). The more reports it gets, the sooner it comes down.
3. Report it to the authorities. In the US, file it with the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov; in the UK, report it to Report Fraud, the service that replaced Action Fraud.
4. Warn the people around you, especially older relatives, who are the main target of these campaigns. We have a guide for talking about it without shaming anyone: elder fraud.

What should you do if you already gave your details or money?

• If you only gave your details, expect calls: hang up, don't install any remote-access app and don't share codes.
• If you paid, call your bank today, save screenshots of the ad, the website and the messages, and report it: in the US to the FTC and, since it happened online, to the FBI's IC3; in the UK to Report Fraud. We explain it step by step in what to do if you get scammed.
• Never pay to get your money back. These scams are often followed by fake lawyers or fake agents who promise to recover your money for a fee. That's a recovery scam, the second scam.

The same trick, years before AI

Using someone else's fame to sell smoke wasn't invented by AI. In 2017, the Fyre Festival was sold with models and influencers who advertised a luxury private island; according to the bankruptcy trustee's lawsuit, almost none of them disclosed that their post was paid advertising, and on the island there was nothing. Its rule is Law of Deception No. 10: “When celebrities promote it, nobody asks whether it exists.”

Even earlier, Lou Pearlman showed his investors the boy bands he had created, the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, while he sold them a savings plan backed by insurance that didn't exist. The bands didn't create the fraud: they gave it a shop window. His law says it all, Law of Deception No. 13: “Someone else's fame is no guarantee for your money.” The deepfake has only made the shop window cheaper: there's no need to hire the celebrity anymore, just to copy their face.

Why do fake celebrity ads work?

These ads trigger two of the five levers we study at MATERIUM: authority (“if someone famous says it, it must be true”) and the fear of missing out (“other people are already getting rich”). Many of these campaigns sell crypto or trading platforms; if that's your case, also read our guide to crypto scams. And before any investment, learn how to check if a broker is legit: it's the one check that no video, however perfect, can fake.