During the now-deleted livestream, which attracted over 30,000 viewers, viewers were directed to deposit Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin at a fictitious website.
Spanning five hours over the weekend, the stream featured semi-pixelated videos of Elon Musk, including segments where he appeared to host a live stream during a Tesla event.
An AI-generated voice resembling Elon Musk encouraged viewers to visit a specified website and deposit their cryptocurrencies under the guise of a giveaway. The stream repeatedly urged donations in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Dogecoin (DOGE), promising to ‘automatically return double the amount of cryptocurrency deposited.’
The “@elon.teslastream” account impersonated Tesla, displaying a verification badge next to its profile. Google removed both the video and the channel.
Musk scams
In a continuation of a series of crypto scams, deep fakes of Elon Musk have been prominently featured.
On April 8, fraudulent Space X giveaway scams surged on YouTube, disguised as live streams focused on the April 8 solar eclipse.
A month later, on May 8, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (HKSFC) issued a warning about a fake crypto exchange platform using AI-generated videos of Elon Musk to promote crypto trading services.
AI-generated videos have increasingly become a tool for crypto scammers over the past year. According to a recent report by Elliptic, AI technology accelerates the spread of crypto scams, posing a significant threat not only to AI’s credibility but also to the integrity of the crypto industry as a whole.
Engadget first reported on this live scam.