- Which? has identified deepfake scams on YouTube aimed at consumers
- These prompt audiences to invest in fake schemes
- Which? urges government and tech companies to take these down
New research from consumer group Which? has urged the government to implement stricter regulations on Big Tech companies to protect internet users from AI-powered scams.
Investigations by the group discovered convincing video fakes of financial journalist (and trusted source) Martin Lewis, as well as UK PM Kier Starmer, advising audiences to invest in fraudulent schemes, and the deepfake videos give the impression that these scams are government backed and ‘risk-free’.
AI impersonation scams have sky-rocketed in in 2025 so far, and the fast evolving technology has made them increasingly difficult to spot.
Danger to customers
The consumer group has now called on tech companies like YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), and Meta for their apparent ‘unwillingness to block dangerous and misleading content’; and further calls on the government to ‘make sure its upcoming fraud strategy includes tough measures to make Big Tech firms take responsibility.’
The Financial Conduct Authority follows the general guidance, which warns against trusting the advice of unchecked financial influencers - but around a fifth (20%) of those who made investments trust online influencers when making investment decisions.
Of course, deepfakes of genuine reliable sources are a different story, so it’s important to review the content you see (i.e. make sure it is the official channel, with safe links, and a legitimate website).
This is complicated by the fact that criminals are able, with the help of AI, to quickly and accurately create spoof websites made to impersonate respectable news outlets like Which? And BBC.
“AI is making it much harder to detect what’s real and what’s not,” points out Rocio Concha, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Which?
“Fraudsters know this - and are exploiting it ruthlessly. All the while, Big Tech platforms that many of us use daily are simply not doing enough to prevent scammers from operating on their sites, putting their users at risk.”
“In order to properly protect UK citizens from fraud, the government must devise an action focused Fraud Strategy that gets tough with Big Tech and other weak links that are enabling fraudsters to flourish online”
That being said, YouTube has recently developed a tool to let creators flag AI-generated video clones, which won’t necessarily target deepfake financial fraud, but is hopefully a step in the right direction for identifying deepfake videos.
