MrBeast and BBC stars are being used in deep scam videos

The world’s biggest YouTuber, MrBeast, and two BBC presenters have been used in deepfake videos to trick unsuspecting people online.

Deepfakes use artificial intelligence (AI) to create a video of a person by manipulating their face or body.

One such video appeared on TikTok this week, claiming to be MrBeast offering people new iPhones for $2 (£1.65).

Meanwhile, images of BBC stars Matthew Amroliwala and Sally Bondock were used to promote a known scam.

The Facebook video showed journalists “introducing” Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Company X, formerly Twitter, ostensibly to promote an investment opportunity.

Similar historical videos have claimed to show him donating money and cryptocurrencies.

The BBC contacted Meta, the company that owns Facebook, which has not yet removed the content.

Instead, the videos are linked with a graphic warning to potential viewers that they contain false information that has been vetted by independent fact-checkers FullFact, who first reported the issue.

Meanwhile, a TikTok spokesperson said the company removed MrBeast’s ad within a few hours of it being uploaded, and the account that posted it was removed for violating its policies.

TikTok specifically prohibits “synthetic media” that “contains an image (visual or audio) of a real person.”

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There have been a series of high-profile deepfakes in recent weeks, with Tom Hanks warning on Monday that an ad that appears to feature him on the front of a dental treatment plan is not real.

As artificial intelligence systems become more powerful and sophisticated, concerns have increased about their ability to create more realistic virtual versions of real people.

Generally, the first clue that a video may not be what it seems is simply that it offers something for nothing.

But MrBeast’s video complicates this.

The YouTuber has made his name by donating cars, houses, and money — he even gave trick-or-treat iPhones last year on Halloween — so it’s easy to see how people might think he was giving away these devices online.

But discerning viewers and listeners will be able to spot signs that something is wrong.

The scammers tried to appear legitimate by including MrBeast’s name in the video in the bottom left corner, as well as the blue verification mark used on many different social media platforms.

But TikTok videos automatically include the uploader’s actual name below the TikTok logo itself.

The account that posted the video has not been verified and no longer exists.

Meanwhile, in videos featuring BBC presenters, the errors were more apparent.

For example, in Sally Bondoc’s video, the ‘presenter’ mispronounces the number 15 as ‘teen five’, as well as awkwardly pronouncing the project as ‘project’.

It also says that “more than $3 billion has been invested in the new project,” rather than “has been invested.”

These mistakes may be small, but as technology advances and visual clues become less obvious, verbal errors — like the misspellings you often find in fraudulent emails — can be a useful way to determine if something is fake.

The fakers used a legitimate video of Sally Bondoc presenting — at the time talking about Mr. Musk’s acquisition of Company X — but made it look like she was talking about an investment opportunity related to him.

In Matthew Amroliwana’s video, there are some similar audio cues, with distorted sounds at the beginning of certain sentences.