Criminals use deepfakes from celebrities for deceptively real fake advertising

Cyber criminals are increasingly using deepfakes to make fake financial and healthcare offers appear credible. The consumer advice center is currently warning against this scam. With the help of AI, videos or images of well-known personalities are manipulated so that they appear to make personal recommendations for dubious products or investments – usually without their knowledge. The AI-generated clips have been circulating on social networks for months, with Germany being one of the main target markets. Even attentive users can be fooled, for example, an employee of a cybersecurity company almost fell for a cloned voice of his boss.

According to consumer protection experts, deepfakes are currently being used particularly frequently to advertise supposedly lucrative financial products or supposedly revolutionary health products. The fraudsters promise unrealistic profits or healing successes and use fake websites and missing sources as part of their scam. The aim is to exploit trust in famous faces and persuade consumers to disclose sensitive data or make investments. Celebrities such as Günther Jauch, Frank Thelen and Barbara Schöneberger are particularly frequently affected.

Investment and health

The most frequent topics include crypto investments, trading platforms, stock market tips and alleged “insider secrets”. Recently, the State Office of Criminal Investigation of Lower Saxony also warned against scams involving fake investment websites for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. However, fake advertising posts by less well-known people are also circulating. Such pages and posts often receive many hits without the people concerned being aware of the identity fraud.

In the health sector, diet pills, nutritional supplements and anti-aging products are often advertised. One deepfake video, for example, showed Dieter Bohlen supposedly recommending innovative treatment methods for knee and joint pain, particularly osteoarthritis – as an analysis by Bitdefender showed as early as 2024. Deepfakes of international stars such as Brad Pitt, Cristiano Ronaldo and George Clooney are also circulating. The videos are deliberately distributed via social media platforms such as Facebook, Messenger and Instagram to trick users into making fraudulent purchases or disclosing personal data. Some of these fake profiles or pages reach more than 350,000 followers before they are deleted.

The criminals use real image and sound material as a training basis for creating the deepfake videos. Politicians and other public figures are also frequently affected, as a particularly large number of recordings of them are available. The consumer advice center advises users to be particularly vigilant when dealing with suspicious offers. Warning signs include unrealistic promises (e.g., high profits without risk), missing or dubious sources, unusual or new websites and conspicuous errors in the video or audio track, such as poor lip-syncing.

Deepfake has been a topic for years

Numerous examples show how real and far-reaching these manipulations already are. In 2023, for example, a fake video of former German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in which he appeared to announce a ban on the AfD caused a stir. Although the video was created by a satirical group and was not technically perfect, the case showed how quickly such fakes can create uncertainty and influence public opinion.

In 2022, a manipulated video of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy allegedly calling for surrender to Russia also emerged. This video also spread rapidly, including on social media, probably due to a cyberattack on a Ukrainian TV station. This video was not technically at the level of today's deepfakes. The BSI and Europol have been warning against such videos for years. Around a year ago, the Federal Council presented a draft law to make deepfakes clearly punishable.

(mack)