The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre is telling you to watch out for deepfake videos made by fraudsters.
According to the Centre, there has been an increase in reports of fraudsters using deepfake technology to impersonate politicians, celebrities, and news anchors promoting fraudulent investments, merchandise, or applications.
They say deepfake videos use artificial intelligence algorithms to manipulate audio and video, making it appear as though the person it’s impersonating is promoting those investments, which can be convincing to viewers.
This makes it difficult for people to find out if the video is authentic or not, with these videos often circulating on social media. The Centre says some of the videos are being used to commit fraud and spread false information.
To help protect people from being victims of fraud, the Centre has a list of warning signs to watch for in the videos.
You should assume a video that has a public figure promoting merchandise or investments is fake unless proven otherwise, be careful while watching videos that seem too good to be true, look for signs of video editing such as unnatural movement, mismatched audio, or inconsistent lighting, and to cross-check information.
Because some fraudsters will use the names of legitimate companies to give their fraud more credibility, the Centre adds you should verify email addresses, URL’s, phone numbers, and the physical address.
Other tips include verifying if the investment companies are registered with your Provincial Securities Regulator or the Are They Registered Tool.
If you suspect that you are the victim of a fraud or cybercrime, you should report it to your local RCMP detachment and to the Centre’s online reporting system.
For the link, click here.
