Des vidéos hypertrucées générées par IA d'Elon Musk et de Dans l'œil du dragon utilisées dans une fraude crypto de 2,3 M$ ciblant des Canadiens
Des vidéos hypertrucées d'Elon Musk et de Dragon's Den ont attiré deux Canadiens dans une fraude crypto de 2,3 M$.
In July 2023, a 51-year-old woman in Markham, Ontario saw a deepfake video on Facebook featuring a synthetic likeness and altered voice of Elon Musk, claiming viewers could "make money daily" investing in his cryptocurrency platform (BNN Bloomberg, 2025; CP24, 2025). She made an initial $250 e-transfer and was shown fabricated profits of US$30 within two days — establishing false credibility (BNN Bloomberg, 2025; CP24, 2025). Over the following months, she took out a $1 million second mortgage, made transfers of $300,000-$350,000 at a time, and watched a fake dashboard show her account growing past $3 million (BNN Bloomberg, 2025; CP24, 2025). When she attempted to withdraw, scammers demanded she pay "taxes and fees" first (BNN Bloomberg, 2025; CP24, 2025). She borrowed an additional $500,000 from family and friends to pay these fees (BNN Bloomberg, 2025; CP24, 2025). She lost $1.7 million total — her entire retirement savings and home equity (BNN Bloomberg, 2025; CP24, 2025).
Separately, a man from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island saw a Facebook Story appearing to be endorsed by Dragon's Den (BNN Bloomberg, 2025; CP24, 2025). Starting with small amounts, he escalated to investing $10,000 per day (BNN Bloomberg, 2025; CP24, 2025). His fake dashboard showed his investment growing past $1 million (BNN Bloomberg, 2025; CP24, 2025). He lost his entire $600,000 life savings (BNN Bloomberg, 2025; CP24, 2025).
A W5 investigation aired December 19, 2025 traced many of the scam operations to criminal compounds in Southeast Asia — including more than 35 buildings in one Philippines location "designed for the sole purpose of scamming," with many operators themselves trafficking victims forced to make calls 16 hours per day (BNN Bloomberg / W5, 2025). Former US prosecutor Erin West criticized Meta directly, stating the platform is "enabling these bad actors to reach their prey" (BNN Bloomberg / W5, 2025). Meta provided a generic policy statement to W5, saying it is "against our policies to run ads that deceptively use public figures to try to scam people" and that the company removes scam ads when detected (BNN Bloomberg / W5, 2025).
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reported $103 million lost specifically to crypto investment scams in 2025 (Mitrade, 2025). Dragon's Den and CBC had posted warnings about fake Facebook ads impersonating the show as early as April 2020, but the advent of deepfake video has made these scams substantially more convincing.
Matérialisé à partir de
Préjudices
Une femme ontarienne de 51 ans a perdu 1,7 million de dollars — la totalité de son épargne-retraite, la valeur nette de sa propriété via une deuxième hypothèque, et 500 000 $ empruntés à sa famille et à des amis — après avoir été trompée par une vidéo hypertrucée d'Elon Musk sur Facebook faisant la promotion d'une plateforme de cryptomonnaie frauduleuse.
Un homme de Charlottetown, à l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard, a perdu la totalité de ses économies de 600 000 $ après avoir été attiré par une vidéo hypertrucée de Dans l'œil du dragon dans un stratagème crypto frauduleux, investissant jusqu'à 10 000 $ par jour à son apogée.
Le Centre antifraude du Canada a signalé 103 millions de dollars de pertes spécifiquement liées aux arnaques crypto en 2025.
Preuves
4 rapports
- 'I was heartbroken': Two Canadians lose $2.3 million to crypto scams Source principale
Victim accounts, dollar amounts lost, and deepfake video descriptions
- W5 investigates cryptocurrency scams targeting Canadians Source principale
Investigation revealing Southeast Asian scam compounds and Meta's role as distribution platform
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CAFC aggregate statistics on crypto investment fraud losses
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Corroborating victim accounts and CAFC fraud statistics
Détails de la fiche
Évaluation éditoriale évalué
La vidéo hypertrucée générée par l'IA a atteint une qualité et une accessibilité suffisantes pour que des réseaux criminels l'utilisent à grande échelle pour commettre des fraudes financières — le Centre antifraude du Canada signalant 103 millions de dollars de pertes liées aux arnaques crypto en 2025 seulement (Mitrade, 2025; CP24, 2025), et des victimes individuelles perdant l'ensemble de leurs économies (BNN Bloomberg, 2025).
Entités impliquées
Fiches connexes
- AI Deepfake Videos of Prime Minister Carney Used to Defraud Canadians and Target 2025 Federal Electionrelated
- AI-Enabled Fraud and Impersonationrelated
Taxonomieévalué
AIID : Incident #1325
Historique des modifications
| Version | Date | Modification |
|---|---|---|
| v1 | 8 mars 2026 | Initial publication based on AIID cross-reference scan |
| v2 | 11 mars 2026 | Neutrality and factuality review: corrected Meta response (Meta did provide a generic policy statement to W5); removed unverifiable $420M investment fraud and 15% increase claims (no primary CAFC source found); removed three fabricated policy recommendation attributions (CAFC did not recommend deepfake detection on ads or cooling-off periods; Erin West's statement was editorially rewritten into a policy prescription). |