Three Canadians reportedly lost hundreds of thousands of dollars after watching videos that allegedly showed prominent figures vouching for a cryptocurrency investment scheme.
According to CTV News Toronto, Mohammad Haq came across a video on social media of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau explaining how Canadians can profit by investing in cryptocurrency.
Hack decided to invest money, starting with $1,200 CAD ($880 USD), but when he thought he had accumulated $424,775 USD from his investment, he discovered that his account was actually empty.
The video he watched turned out to be a deepfake, falsified by artificial intelligence (AI). Hack lost C$226,000 ($165,610) due to the scam.
Darrell Budnick, who was scammed out of $130,000 Canadian ($95,262), saw a similar deepfake video. He thought he was making a profit after investing in the scheme, but later realized he could not withdraw his funds.
“I'm panicking now. I have heart problems and they are getting worse. Hurts. Scary. I thought I was safe, but now I’m not.”
Giovanni Pugliano was also scammed after watching a YouTube video in which Elon Musk says people can start investing in cryptocurrency with just a few hundred dollars and become rich. The video was a hoax and Pugliano lost C$17,000 ($12,457).
“I ended up investing a lot more than I expected and suddenly I was broke.”
In the first half of 2024, investors across the country lost C$148 million ($108.45) to fraudulent investment schemes, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center. Most of these schemes involve cryptocurrency.
More interesting news - subscribe
