[imagesource:befunky]

A ‘deepfake’ scam that uses well-known SABC news presenter Francis Herd and Elon Musk likenesses is drawing some concern among South Africans.

The YouTube video begins with Herd’s deepfake claiming the usual scam facts’, “Elon Musk’s project has scared the government and big banks. He devised a secret investment that has made hundreds of people extremely wealthy.”

The clip then moves on to the money shot with “Everyone who invests R4,700 can earn R300,000 per month.”  The film features the SABC News logo at the bottom of the screen for some extra credibility, but it’s only when Elon pipes in that things get really weird.

Deepfake Elon goes on to announce a “powerful, world-first investment software” that can make you “R30,000 on day one — or even much more” with returns of “up to 538% daily, and 6283% monthly”. Hell, why not make it 100,000% to really lure in those suckers. Fake Elon then doubles down with claims that Nicky Oppenheimer and Johann Rupert have already invested in the project.

Of course, the whole thing is super fake and even if the claims of 6283% returns don’t set alarm bells ringing, the old-school Kung-Fu lip-syncing should. The video began floating around social media on November 3 and has amassed 123,000 views already. A similar video is being used in Facebook marketing.

The video was posted by a channel called Excellent Result with the YouTube handle @drawingkidss. The only listed videos on the channel are badly-produced alphabet teaching videos, seemingly aimed at kids. More alarm bells right there.

Herd has been forced to go onto X to deny that it was her on the video.

Another indecent abuse of AI. Please note each and every video involving SABC visuals and Elon Musk (which seem to be popping up everywhere) are FAKE 😤 ⁦@_BongiweZwane⁩ pic.twitter.com/cipty0ELgj

— Francis Herd (@FrancisHerd) November 7, 2023

Most people might just laugh at this ridiculous attempt to scam people, but these scams are not a joke, and people often ignore the obvious red flags out of sheer desperation. Or stupidity. Take a look:

Where do I sign up?

[source:mybroadband]