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Crypto scam red flags: No, Elon Musk isn't trying to help you make money in crypto
Entrepreneur and eccentric billionaire Elon Musk is far too busy negotiating a new buyout deal with Twitter’s board to promote cryptocurrency. How do we know that? The latest video is a deepfake and is easy to spot.
But this isn’t the first time Musk’s likeness appeared in online advertising for cryptocurrency. Earlier this month, scammers spliced together clips of Musk, Twitter’s founder Jack Dorsey and investor Cathie Wood to promote a crypto scam.
Read on for the latest attempt to steal your money and what to look for so that you don’t become a victim.
Here’s the backstory
Deepfake videos are becoming more convincing. This is due to advancing technology allowing scammers to create photos and videos of people using footage from different scenarios. Now, a video widely shared online hopes you will look past the (not so) subtle clues that something is amiss.
Here’s the video. See if you can pick up on the signs of it being a fake.
What you can do about it
As you probably noticed, the sound is terrible. This is because the scammers tried to use deepfake technology to mimic Musk’s mouth. But the technique is relatively complicated to get right and needs advanced knowledge to work.
However, there have been some very convincing deepfakes over the years. Even Disney used deepfakes in “The Mandalorian” to inject a young Luke Skywalker into the show.
But from the video above, you can instantly hear that the speech is choppy. Also, it’s relatively easy to spot the dodgy editing, voices seemingly fading unnaturally, and the lips don’t exactly match up to the speech.
Here are some tips to avoid falling victim to crypto scams and how to spot deepfake videos:
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