Deepfake ad to scam seniors found on Facebook using CHCH interview

Deepfake videos have taken over social media, blurring the line between reality and fiction. This week, CHCH News has learned that one of our videos has been altered to scam seniors out of money.

A deepfake video was found on Facebook of Adam Atkinson’s interview with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, except this video was trying to scam people out of money.

“I think it’s absolutely frightening that we entered in this era with technology that allows people to very inexpensively to create a deepfake video so that within the video it can appear as though someone is saying something they’ve never said in the first place,” said tech expert Amber Mac. “It really is a post truth era.”

Mac says 90 per cent of deepfake videos are actually non-consensual pornography. She says this means someone is making fake videos, often of women, pretending they were in the videos when they weren’t.

“It’s unfortunately the evolution of trolling and extremely concerning,” said Mac.

CHCH News Director Greg O’Brien joined Loui Butko, the host of the News Makers Podcast, to discuss the deepfaked CHCH Video.

“This is an ad on Facebook, this is Facebook making money from a criminal organization who have stolen our video and are trying to steal people’s money,” said O’Brien.

“So Facebook is making money out of that advertising, for people to target Facebook users, and they’re not doing anything about it. This is Tony Soprano level of business opportunity, it’s just ridiculous.”

In early August, Meta announced that it will stop allowing users on its platforms to access news sources. However, deepfake videos of news personalities can still be found on Facebook, even though posting them is not allowed.

Mac says you can spot a deepfake video now, but the technology is advancing quickly.

CHCH News reached out to Meta’s customer support team on Tuesday to have the video taken down, and it still hasn’t been.

While there are clues to know what you see isn’t real, such as links which lead you to websites which ask for personal financial information, we want to caution viewers to question what you see on Facebook and other social media platforms. This incident shows you can’t trust what you hear or see on those platforms.

READ MORE: COMMENTARY: Facebook’s fallacy