If you thought fake news was bad, then you won’t believe what’s coming our way in the future. Widely seen as the next generation of hoaxes, Deepfakes are videos that use artificial intelligence to edit faces, motion, and speech with scary accuracy. In a Deepfake video, you can make any politician say anything you want, or swap the face of a person you know on a salacious picture for instant blackmail. The worst part: it’s getting harder to tell them apart from the real thing. This video might disturb you.
Watch out for these scams surrounding the death of Queen Elizabeth II
The more widespread the news, the more scams and hoaxes you’ll see. The pandemic gave rise to countless scams involving fake news, fake testing kits, and dangerous misinformation disguised as legitimate research. We saw similar tactics when Russia invaded Ukraine.
Celebrities are also a common ingredient in a scammer’s bag of tricks — the more well-known, the better. Recently, a video of Elon Musk surfaced in which the Tesla and SpaceX CEO promoted cryptocurrency. Guess what? The footage was phony. Tap or click here for tips on spotting deepfake videos.
With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the potential for new scams is enormous. People worldwide are sharing news of the Queen’s passing, and you’re bound to find false and dangerous information. Here’s what to watch out for.
Queen Elizabeth has “died” several times before
Queen Elizabeth II died on Sept. 8, 2022, at 96 years old. But rumors of her death have been circulating for some time. This is nothing new. Countless public figures have been the victims of death hoaxes, especially with the rise of social media.
Name a superstar, and there’s a post about their death somewhere out there. Some celebrities even expire on an annual basis. While false news of celebrity deaths seems harmless, it’s part of a more significant problem of misinformation.
Celebrity death hoaxes work because they tug at people’s emotions. And the urge to share correlates with that. You may think this can’t hurt anyone, but it helps to keep the fake news train rolling.
Not to mention that families, friends and the hoax victim can suffer severe emotional distress over what’s considered a harmless prank.
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The floodgates are open
When a famous person dies, scammers come out of the woodwork. Now that the Queen has passed, there’ll be even more to watch out for. You’re going to see scams involving everything from cryptocurrency to commemorative merchandise. Also, look for posts promising videos or photos of her final moments — gruesome stuff.
Several scammy tokens such as Queen Elizabeth Inu, God Save the Queen, Queen, QueenDoge, London Bridge is Down and Rip Queen Elizabeth has already been launched. Stay far, far away.
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Your social media feeds are no doubt clogged with hoaxes and misinformation that spread all too easily. Tap or click here for rumors going around Facebook, so you don’t get tricked into sharing them.
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