According to U.Today, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has recently taken to social media to warn against fraudulent individuals impersonating him to scam users. Garlinghouse expressed his company's determination to combat these 'pathetic lowlifes' who are misusing his identity for malicious purposes. He shared a video clip featuring his look-alike promoting a common giveaway scam, which promises to return double the amount of cryptocurrency sent to the scammer's wallet. Garlinghouse humorously noted that at least the impersonator got his hairstyle right.
In a follow-up post, Garlinghouse urged the XRP community to remain vigilant. He also praised the creative team at Ripple for producing the video. Ripple has been battling against scams related to its name for several years. In 2020, the company even sued video hosting platform YouTube over the spread of cryptocurrency scams, settling the dispute the following year. However, this has not deterred persistent XRP fraudsters.
The sophistication of XRP scams has increased with the advent of AI technologies. An extremely realistic deepfake of Garlinghouse has appeared on social media, mimicking his voice with remarkable accuracy.