The new age of artificial intelligence is proving to be tricky as consumers fall for new scams created using AI and according to fraud experts they’re “more convincing than ever”
I often dream of a world where I’m not being advertised to, but as the behemoth that is social media continues to swell with influencers, creators and brands alike vying for my attention, ads are, unfortunately, a normal part of my feeds.
I can appreciate a good advert, and actually love when it’s clear that thought and care has gone into making an advert feel less so. Even more so, I like a real celebrity recommendation. I’d love to know what mascara Katherine Ryan uses, or the hair cream Zendaya pays for out of her own pocket (not sent for free or part of a larger campaign).
As new influencers pop up left, right and centre, there’s no denying that authenticity sells – and I’ve realised, for brands, it’s like gold dust. But with the rise of AI and as deep-fakes run amok online, it seems that AI celeb bait videos are the latest scam floating around – and many are falling for it.
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In one viral post, a red carpet clip shows Rihanna being asked what perfume she wears. She appears to say: “I’m just going to tell you all, it’s called Goda For Her.”
The video then cuts to clips of various celebrity interviews with stars like Jim Parsons and Lil Nas X commenting on how great the Barbadian singer smells, all reinforcing the false idea that she’s known in the industry for her scent.
Using a similar approach, Love Island USA star Huda Mustafa became the most recent victim to her likeness being used in AI scams. The 24-year-old was still on the show with no access to her phone or the outside world, but unknown sellers edited clips from Love Island and used the voices of other Islanders complimenting her scent, which is said to be Nyla Arabiyat Prestige.
TikTokers stocked up on the viral vanilla scent with one creator plugging the perfume writing: “Huda getting compliments on Love Island has made this perfume so popular.” However, after leaving the villa, Huda told Allure that while “a lot of the guys in the villa complimented [her] scent 24/7,” she never made any of the ad content circulating online, nor does she wear the scent featured.
Molly-Mae addressed the fake ads in a recent vlog, after her likeness was used in an AI video promoting Nyla Arabiyat Prestige as one of her favourites.
She told her sister Zoe about the moment a fan told her she’d bought perfume, thinking the former Love Island star had raved about it. “There’s this clip going around on TikTok, they do it with loads of different people, they’ll literally put AI over the clip and be like ‘this is Molly’s favourite perfume’ and it’s me saying ‘oh I love this Nyla perfume’ in my literal voice but it’s AI, how scary.”
“People are actually buying this perfume thinking that it’s my favourite perfume, and I’ve never even smelt it,” she added. The Mirror has reached out to the brands – Lattafa, Goda Perfume and Arabiyat – that created AI content using Rihanna, Molly-Mae and Huda’s likeness.
Thankfully, people are becoming wise to the scam. One took to Twitter, writing: “has anyone seen this weird TikTok page promoting perfume with AI videos saying Rihanna and Molly-Mae wear it?? feel like I’m going insane do not buy that stupid Nyla perfume.”
On Reddit, another user wrote: “I am hearing Rihanna does not even wear Nyla… it was edited… at this point… my mother ordered and hers isn’t real. lol. I told her to get off TikTok.”
“A friend of mine can’t get the product out of her mind despite protests from me, and the TikTok video advertising it being extremely obvious AI dubbing over celebrities. Paired with the only available one being 80ml, on various Chinese knock off sites, the many reviews claiming it has no staying power,” a third typed.
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“I hate giving money over to deceptive tactics like tricking less tech savvy people with AI and the disgusting price for a fragrance that doesn’t last the day,” they added.
Annya Burskys, Head of Fraud Ops at Nationwide, is well aware of the AI scams and tells me they’ve been on the rise for multiple reasons. “We’ve all become familiar with influencers endorsing legitimate products, which has made us more comfortable with this type of content. Scammers are exploiting that trust, knowing many people won’t stop to question whether what they’re seeing is real or fake,” Burskys says.
She explains that the quality of these scams makes them “more convincing than ever” and her team sees cases coming in on a daily basis. “The scale and speed at which these scams can be created and uploaded to platforms like TikTok and other social media channels is unprecedented. It’s never been more important to stay vigilant.”
When I flagged the ads I had spotted to Meta (Instagram, Threads, Facebook) and TikTok, they removed the ads immediately.
These AI videos are against advertising policies, and they’re suspending and deleting accounts as an act of enforcement. However, despite using facial recognition technology and human moderation to detect, review and prevent celeb bait, the very fact that it’s designed to look real makes it all the more difficult to detect.
Burskys tells me that while social media platforms play a “critical role” in putting an end to AI scams, it’s ultimately a “shared responsibility” and there are steps we can take to protect our feeds and others’ against deceptive scams.
“One of the most effective things we can all do is report scams when we see them,” Burskys advises. “Reporting helps platforms take down malicious content quickly but another simple thing we can all do is talk about the scams we have seen and raise awareness as this makes it harder for scammers to exist in the first place.
“The use of AI in scamming is here to stay, so we all need to know the latest tactics and tricks they are using.”
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