Fell for that AI-generated celebrity charity scam last week

I clicked a link claiming Taylor Swift was matching donations for a animal rescue, put in $75 through a fake GoFundMe page before I realized the video was completely computer generated. The voice matched perfectly and the background looked real, but the eyes kept flickering in that uncanny valley way. Anyone else get caught by these deepfake charity pitches yet?

3 comments

3 Comments

brooket4311d agoRising Star

Started checking the charity first on the IRS website before donating anything now. Also good to look up the celebrity name with the word scam after it to see if anything pops up.

karen_carter11d ago

Ugh, is it really that deep though? I mean yeah you should definitely not just throw money at every sob story you see on Instagram, but do people really have time to dig through IRS databases and run background checks on celebrities before they donate? Seems like a lot of work for something that should be pretty straightforward. I get that there are scams out there, but I feel like 99% of the time if it's a big name celebrity and a well known charity, you're probably fine. Maybe I'm just too trusting or lazy, but I don't know if every little donation needs a full FBI investigation behind it. Just my two cents, but I think people can usually tell if something feels off without having to go all detective mode on it.

kellygrant11d ago

You said "you're probably fine" with big name celebrities and well known charities, but even famous people can get caught up in bad situations without knowing it. A lot of those big charities have overhead costs you wouldn't believe, and some celebrities just lend their name to things they barely looked into (it happens more than you'd think). So a quick check on a site like Charity Navigator or even just a basic Google search might save you from sending money somewhere that doesn't actually do what it says.