--- title: "Deepfake Endorsement Scams: How AI Clones of Famous People Sell Fake Investments" description: "Scammers are using AI to fake videos of celebrities and executives endorsing investments and betting apps that do not exist. US consumers reported losing $3.5bn to impersonation scams in 2025 alone. Here is how the con works, and how to avoid it." category: "Personal Finance" category_url: https://boursel.com/category/personal-finance author: "Marcus Feldman" published: 2026-07-05T07:37:09.000Z updated: 2026-07-05T07:37:09.000Z canonical: https://boursel.com/article/deepfake-endorsement-scams-how-ai-clones-of-famous-people-sell-fake-investments tags: ["scams", "deepfakes", "fraud", "consumer-protection", "ai"] --- # Deepfake Endorsement Scams: How AI Clones of Famous People Sell Fake Investments Scammers are using AI to fake videos of celebrities and executives endorsing investments and betting apps that do not exist. US consumers reported losing $3.5bn to impersonation scams in 2025 alone. Here is how the con works, and how to avoid it. You are scrolling through a social feed when a video appears: a famous entrepreneur, filmed in what looks like a real interview, explaining a "guaranteed" way to turn a small deposit into a fortune. The face and voice are convincing. They are also fake, generated by artificial intelligence to sell a scheme the real person has never heard of. This is the deepfake endorsement scam, and it has become one of the more effective tools in the fraud playbook. This is consumer information, not investment advice. ## What a deepfake endorsement scam is A deepfake is a synthetic video or audio clip made with machine-learning tools that study real footage of a person and then generate a convincing fake of them saying or doing something they never did. Fraudsters use that technology to manufacture fake endorsements: a business leader appearing to back a crypto platform, a celebrity seeming to promote a trading app, or an athlete apparently fronting a betting service. The point is borrowed trust. Most people apply a healthy skepticism to a stranger's cold pitch, but a familiar, trusted face lowers the guard, which is exactly what the technology is designed to exploit. ## How the con runs The mechanics are consistent. Scammers seed the fake endorsement into paid social-media ads or fake articles dressed up to look like real news sites, often promising outsized returns from a tiny stake. A viewer who clicks lands on a lookalike website impersonating a genuine trading platform, is walked through opening an account and "verifying" their identity, which hands over personal data, and is then pressed to deposit money. From there the money either disappears at once or, in the more patient versions, the victim is shown a fake dashboard with growing "profits" for weeks to encourage larger deposits before the operators vanish. The same structure works whether the product is a fake investment or an unlicensed betting app. ## How big the problem is The losses are large and rising. In the United States, people reported losing $3.5bn to imposter scams in 2025, a figure that has nearly tripled since 2020, [CNBC reported](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/26/imposter-scams-led-fraud-reports-to-ftc-in-2025-3point5-billion-losses.html), citing Federal Trade Commission data. Imposter scams were the single most-reported type of fraud, accounting for close to one in three fraud reports, and total fraud losses reported to the FTC reached about $16bn for the year, the highest on record, [according to CNBC's account of the FTC figures](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/26/imposter-scams-led-fraud-reports-to-ftc-in-2025-3point5-billion-losses.html). Regulators outside the US see the same pattern. Britain's Financial Conduct Authority received 4,465 reports of scams impersonating the regulator itself in the first half of 2025, of which 480 people went on to hand over money, and nearly two-thirds of those reports came from people aged 56 or older, [the FCA said](https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fake-fca-scams-reported-6-months-2025). Not all of these involve deepfakes, but they show how readily fraudsters borrow the authority of trusted names. The tactic keeps spreading to new arenas. The Guardian reported that the Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes was the subject of a deepfake used by an unlicensed betting operator, [in its July report](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/05/a-footballing-deepfake-how-bruno-fernandes-fell-victim-to-an-unlicensed-betting-operator), an example of the same technique moving from investing into sports gambling. ## Why the fakes work Deepfakes exploit a few predictable weaknesses. A celebrity's apparent endorsement carries psychological weight; the promise of fast, effortless returns is tempting, especially when money feels tight; and while most people have learned to distrust text and images, video and audio still feel like hard evidence. The scams are also targeted, often aimed at older adults and tuned to whatever is in the news, which makes them feel timely. ## How to protect yourself The defenses are simple and do not require spotting a technical flaw in the video, since the best fakes have few. - **Verify through official channels you find yourself.** Never use a phone number, link or app from the ad or message. Go to the company's real website or the number on your bank statement. A genuine firm will not penalize you for checking; a scam depends on you not checking. - **Treat guaranteed or extraordinary returns as a red flag.** No legitimate investment promises to multiply your money quickly. That claim alone is close to proof of fraud. - **Confirm any celebrity endorsement independently.** A real endorsement is reported by mainstream outlets. If searching for it turns up only the ad itself, it is not real. - **Slow down.** Fraudsters manufacture urgency to stop you thinking. Stepping away for an hour breaks the script. - **Report it.** In the US, report suspected scams to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov; elsewhere, report to your national financial regulator and to the platform hosting the ad. The underlying technology is neutral, and has legitimate uses in film and media. But as it grows cheaper and more convincing, the same skepticism that protects you from any too-good-to-be-true offer, verify first, distrust guarantees, and never be rushed, is the best defense against a face you think you recognize. ## Sources - [Imposter scams led fraud reports to the FTC for a fifth straight year in 2025, causing $3.5 billion in losses](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/26/imposter-scams-led-fraud-reports-to-ftc-in-2025-3point5-billion-losses.html) - [Almost 5,000 fake FCA scams reported in first six months of 2025](https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fake-fca-scams-reported-6-months-2025)