Deepfake Tim Cook Stirs Chaos At Apple Event, Promotes Crypto Fraud

Scammers stole Apple’s thunder on September 9, 2024, regarding the iPhone 16 launch, by attempting to trick would-be buyers with deepfake videos of its CEO, Tim Cook.

Indeed, this shows the spiraling threat of AI-driven fraud as cybercriminals start to make use of high-profile events to dupe unsuspecting victims into cryptocurrency scams.

The Deepfake Trap

During the “Glowtime” event, where Apple was showcasing its new features for iPhones, a number of live streams with deepfakes of Tim Cook were being shown on various platforms, including YouTube.

These seemingly legitimate streams urged listeners to send a cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Tether, to a specific address in exchange for double the amount they had put in.

The scammers manipulated old footage of Cook, editing it with AI to create a convincing performance that misled hundreds of thousands of viewers.

AI is getting WAY too good

355k people watching a fake “apple” account on @youtube that’s promoting a massive crypto scam lol

The reason there are so many viewers is because the keynote today at 12pm cst@YouTubeCreators pic.twitter.com/O2ufpxdKnF

— BearPig

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