How 'deepfake Musk' became internet's biggest scammer
Elon Musk could help.
Beauchamp, an 82-year-old retiree, saw a video late last year of Musk endorsing a radical investment opportunity that promised rapid returns. He contacted the company behind the pitch and opened an account for $248. Through a series of transactions over several weeks, Beauchamp drained his retirement account, ultimately investing more than $690,000.
Then the money vanished — lost to digital scammers on the forefront of a new criminal enterprise powered by artificial intelligence.
The scammers had edited a genuine interview with Musk, replacing his voice with a replica using AI tools. The AI was sophisticated enough that it could alter minute mouth movements to match the new script they had written for the digital fake. To a casual viewer, the manipulation might have been imperceptible.
«I mean, the picture of him — it was him,» Beauchamp said about the video he saw of Musk. «Now, whether it was AI making him say the things that he was saying, I really don't know. But as far as the picture, if somebody had said, 'Pick him out of a lineup,' that's him.»
Thousands of these AI-driven videos, known as deepfakes, have flooded the internet in recent months featuring phony versions of Musk deceiving scores of would-be investors. AI-powered deepfakes are expected to contribute to billions of dollars in fraud losses each year, according to estimates from Deloitte.
The videos cost just a few dollars to produce and can be made in minutes. They are promoted on social media, including in paid ads on
