Deepfake celebrity ads drive new wave of investment scams

Fabricated news stories, deepfake videos and convincing trading dashboards are being deployed in increasingly sophisticated investment scams that experts warn are now difficult for ordinary investors to distinguish from genuine platforms

Investment fraudsters are deploying fake celebrity endorsements and AI-generated deepfakes sophisticated enough to fool “almost anyone”, investment researchers have warned, as scam adverts become increasingly difficult to distinguish from legitimate financial promotions.

New analysis found that criminals are exploiting social media advertising, fabricated news articles and cloned trading platforms to impersonate high-profile public figures and pressure victims into depositing funds.

The research by BrokerListings.com follows a February update from the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which said it had issued 10 scam ad alerts last year relating to deepfake investment promotions and warned that AI-generated media is becoming harder to detect.

The report, titled Fake Celebrity Investment Ads Are Getting Better: Here’s How To Spot Them, examined the structure and psychology behind modern celebrity-driven investment scams and traced how victims are guided from first contact to financial loss.

According to the findings, fraudsters frequently build campaigns around fabricated promotional material falsely featuring well-known figures including Elon Musk and consumer finance campaigner Martin Lewis. The schemes typically begin with a social media advert or fake interview, before directing users to what appears to be a professional trading platform.

BrokerListings.com said many of the sites analysed were designed to closely resemble regulated brokerage onboarding processes, complete with polished dashboards and staged performance data. Victims are often contacted by supposed “account managers” who apply sustained pressure to increase deposits.

The report’s author, Christian Harris, said: “Celebrity investment scams are no longer simple email frauds — they are structured, multi-stage operations designed to mimic regulated investment platforms.

“Our goal was to map exactly how these scams function in practice and give investors a clear framework for spotting warning signs before money is transferred.”

The analysis identified a common pattern across cases studied, including fabricated media interviews, fake financial news articles styled to resemble major publications, high-pressure sales calls, simulated trading dashboards displaying false profits and repeated requests for additional deposits framed as tax payments, unlock fees or compliance charges.

Researchers said social proof and urgency messaging were central to the frauds’ success, with investors shown fabricated testimonials and time-limited offers designed to short-circuit due diligence.

The study concluded that many operations now operate internationally, using multilingual call centres and cloned web infrastructure that can be relaunched under new brand names within days of exposure.

BrokerListings.com has published a five-step verification checklist urging investors to independently confirm regulatory authorisation, verify any claimed celebrity endorsement through official channels, check domain history and company registration records, treat guaranteed returns with suspicion and avoid transferring funds in response to unsolicited online advertising.

The authors said the growing use of AI tools to generate convincing video, audio and written content had significantly lowered the barrier to entry for organised scam networks, enabling campaigns to scale rapidly across multiple jurisdictions.

READ MORE: ‘Europe eyes Australia-style social media crackdown for children‘. Brussels has unveiled an EU-wide cyberbullying action plan as political pressure intensifies to curb children’s access to social media and AI chatbots, signalling that Europe may follow Australia’s lead in imposing far tougher online age controls.

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_{Main image: Gerd Altmann/Pixabay}