Ontario Senior Loses $15K in Deepfake Scam That Used Doug Ford’s Likeness

An Ontario senior has lost more than $15,000 in a fraudulent scheme that employed a “deepfake” of Premier Doug Ford endorsing a mutual fund account.

A man in his 80s was scammed after clicking on a Facebook advertisement that appeared to feature Ontario’s premier promoting a mutual fund account, Guelph police said in a June 24 press release. The man reported the fraud on June 23.

“This opened a chat, through which the man was convinced to ‘invest’ more than $15,000 over the next week through e-transfers and credit card payments,” police said in the press release, which urged area residents to be wary of ads asking for money.

The details of the deepfake advertisement were not shared by police. Police also did not say whether the ad is still available on the social media site, and Facebook parent company Meta did not return a request for comment by publication time.

Deepfakes are images, videos, or audio that have been altered or produced through artificial intelligence to create content that misrepresents an individual’s words or actions. Fraudsters often use deepfakes depicting politicians or celebrities promoting a fake product or service in a bid to defraud people, police said.

A YouTube ad featuring the likeness of then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was used in 2023 as part of a cryptocurrency scam. 

The AI-manipulated video used voice cloning to make it appear the prime minister was endorsing an investment platform. A similar crypto-currency scam using AI-depictions of Trudeau and American-Canadian tech billionaire Elon Musk were also circulating that year.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) said advancements in AI are “rapidly improving the realism of deepfakes,” making it more difficult to determine fake content.

“It is clear that AI is a powerful tool that can advance solutions and facilitate positive outcomes to problems. However, it can also equip an entity with the power to cause significant damage,” CSIS said in a report. “There appears to be a lack of awareness or knowledge around deepfakes, and an inability to recognize or detect them.”

Guelph police has encouraged anyone who believes they may have fallen victim to cybercrime or fraud to report the incident to their local police department as well as to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC). Even in cases where no financial loss has occurred, police are urging individuals to report the interactions to the CAFC.