Hundreds of ads featuring a deep faked Rishi Sunak went up on Facebook - and it's only going to get worse

News
By Benedict Collins
published

The deep fakes promoted investments in an Elon Musk stock market app scam

Rishi Sunak
(Image credit: Sean Aidan Calderbank/Shutterstock)

Adverts featuring a deep faked likeness to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have appeared across Facebook, raising fears of future scams or threats as a possible election nears.

Some of the adverts show the Prime Minister announcing government investment in a new stock market app launched by Elon Musk.

The adverts then link through to a fake BBC News page promoting investment opportunities in this new app - and of course, it's a scam.

2024, the year of the deep fake?

Recent research conducted by Fenimore Harper showed that in a one month period between December 8 2023 and January 8 2024, the funding poured into promoting these adverts on Facebook amounted to $16,500. 

The source of funding for the adverts originated in countries such as Turkey, Malaysia, the Phillipines and the United States.

The research found that 143 different adverts using Rishi Sunaks deep fake likeness were shown to over 400,000 people on Facebook. Luckily, of this 400,000, the adverts were shown to “less than 0.5 percent of UK users”, according to a spokesperson speaking to The Guardian.

While it seems that the primary incentive for these adverts was monetary gain, it is expected that Prime Minister Sunak will call a general election this year. That means you can expect to see many more deep fakes from key political figures spouting misinformation in attempts by hacktivists and state-sponsored groups to influence voting behavior and the overall outcome of the election.

You should also expect to see a gradual increase in deep-fakes and other misinformation/disinformation in the run up to the US presidential election, as Russia and China look to try and sow divide and mistrust between Democrats and Republicans.

Via Engadget

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Benedict Collins
Benedict Collins
Staff Writer (Security)

Benedict Collins is a Staff Writer at TechRadar Pro covering privacy and security. Benedict is mainly focused on security issues such as phishing, malware, and cyber criminal activity, but also likes to draw on his knowledge of geopolitics and international relations to understand the motivations and consequences of state-sponsored cyber attacks. Benedict has a MA in Security, Intelligence and Diplomacy, alongside a BA in Politics with Journalism, both from the University of Buckingham.