As the Paris Olympics approach, cybersecurity firm McAfee has discovered a deepfake scam aimed at discrediting the International Olympic Committee (IOC). This time, scammers are using a deepfake version of billionaire Elon Musk's voice to spread propaganda.
In their latest installment, the scammers created a fictitious Amazon Prime series titled “Olympics Are Over II: The End of Thomas Bach,” which was released on Telegram last month, CNBCTV18 reported.
The series has been targeting the Olympics to spread disinformation and create a believable story, with the scammers using a deepfake audio copy of Elon Musk's voice as narrator.
McAfee said Musk's voice is a common tactic used by scammers, with the company's 2023 Hacker Celebrity Hot List ranking Musk as one of the most frequently imitated celebrities in crypto scams.
Last month, a Microsoft report claimed Russia was targeting the Paris Olympics with a disinformation campaign that included using a deepfake Tom Cruise to narrate a documentary and criticise the organisation behind the games.
It's worth noting that while Russia is banned from the 2024 Olympics, a small number of athletes may compete as neutrals.
The IOC called the nine-minute episode a “coordinated disinformation campaign.”
“The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recently been confronted with multiple fake news posts targeting the IOC, including entire documentaries produced with defamatory content, false narratives and false information, using AI-generated voices of world-famous Hollywood actors,” the Olympic organizing committee said in a statement.
McAfee predicts an increase in AI-enabled scams as the Olympics approach, but the cybersecurity company warns people to avoid unfamiliar websites and unsolicited messages, and to verify the source of information.