A love-struck mum who believed she was in a relationship with a TV star sent a scammer $81,000 after falling for his AI deepfake videos.
We only need to look at how the AI videos of Will Smith eating spaghetti have evolved over the years to realise just how powerful the technology has become and it's getting harder and harder to distinguish it from real life.
Unfortunately, that means it can sometimes be used for unscrupulous methods, whether it be creating sexualised images of women using the Grok technology on X, or depicting celebrities in ways they would have never imagined.
While some lads might be dreaming of getting a message from Jennifer Aniston, it proved to be very expensive for one UK man after he was scammed, while a French woman suffered the same fate after getting a message from a con artist pretending to be Brad Pitt.
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It seems as if scammers are willing and able to depict almost anyone in order to trick someone out of their hard-earned cash, after one woman in the US lost over $80,000 after receiving deepfake videos of TV star Steve Burton, best known for his portrayal of Jason Morgan on long-running US drama General Hospital.
Abigail Ruvalcaba sent money through prepaid cards, cash and even bitcoin after the scammer convinced her that Burton had lost his home during the LA wildfires at the beginning of the year.
She had even sold her $350,000 condo in LA to raise funds for Burton and planned to hand the funds over until her daughter Vivian eventually stepped in.
“Had I not intervened when I did, she was scheduled to send the scammer $70,000 out of that money that was sitting there,” Vivian shared with ABC News.
“In her head, there was no scammer. She was talking to Steve Burton the entire time,” Vivian said.
Abigail is now 'in complete debt' due to the calculated scheme and is 'going to have to file for bankruptcy,' according to her daughter.
“She’s ashamed and to put that stress on me, on herself, on my dad, the entire family, I know it weighs heavy on her,” Vivian continued.
Abigail, who suffers from bipolar disorder, had been completely duped by the AI videos, with the generated version of Burton telling her in one video: "Hello, Abigail. I love you so much, darling. I had to make this video to make you happy, my love.”
Vivian added: “I’m sickened by it because why did it go this far? Why didn’t I know this? Why didn’t I see what was happening? What did I miss?”
Burton has even weighed in on the situation and warned others not to fall for the same scam.
When asked how many of his fans had lost money to scammers pretending to be him, he said: “That I know of who have lost money, it’s in the hundreds. It’s in the hundreds. I see people come to my appearances and look at me like they’ve had a relationship online for a couple years and I’m like, ‘No, I’m sorry. I don’t know who you are.’ It’s so sad, you see the devastation.”
“I don’t need your money. I would never ask for money.”
James Moorhouse