My cousin's face showed up in a video selling a weight loss scam

Last Tuesday, I got a text from my aunt asking if my cousin had a new job as a spokesperson. She sent a link to a video on a weird health site where someone who looked and sounded exactly like my cousin was pushing these fake diet pills. The video was smooth, no weird glitches, and it even used her real voice from a podcast clip. It took us three days to get the site to take it down, and we had to show her real social media to prove it was fake. The scary part is how many of our older relatives believed it was real at first. It made me realize that if you see it, you might just trust it without a second thought. Has anyone else had to deal with a deepfake of someone they know?

3 comments

3 Comments

shane_hayes18d ago

Yeah, that's the part that really gets me, how fast this stuff spreads before you can stop it. It's not just about taking the video down, it's about reaching everyone who already saw it and telling them it's a lie. My friend's dad was almost scammed by a fake video of his old army buddy asking for money. By the time we found out, it had been shared in three different family group chats. The tech is so good now that the only red flag is if you know the person wouldn't do it. How do you even start to warn people about something that looks that real?

wyatt13517d ago

My neighbor got a fake call from his "grandson" needing bail money.

the_rowan17d ago

That part about the only red flag being if you know the person is so true. Do you think people should just start calling to check before they believe anything they see now?