Who says the British authorities aren't trusted? Naive! They are trusted, and fraudsters know this very well. Here's a case that demonstrates better than any poll just how blindly Britons place their faith in those in power.
A woman from Salisbury not only gave her cash to scammers but also took out a £23,000 loan ($29,000). All because she believed her Prime Minister, who promised to make her rich. And she even saw him with her own eyes—well, at least in a video. These days, that counts as "seeing with your own eyes."
And who wouldn’t believe it? Imagine you open the internet and see an ad where Keir Starmer urges you to hear some important news. Naturally, you click the link. What if benefits have been increased, and you don’t know? Or taxes lowered? In short, you click. And there’s the Prime Minister talking about a "unique opportunity to earn from cryptocurrency." Of course, you've heard of cryptocurrency. You may not fully understand what it is, but you know it’s a hot topic. After all, isn’t Bitcoin worth $95,000 now?
Sure, somewhere deep in your mind, there’s a faint, almost inaudible feeling of doubt: "Why is the Prime Minister involved in cryptocurrency? What does he have to do with this?" But this whisper gets drowned out by the chorus of voices in your head urging you to act quickly. After all, it’s simple: here’s the video. You see Keir Starmer with your own eyes. You know cryptocurrency is about finances, and there’s big money there. “It’s my time! I’ll finally get rich.”
At this point, the thoughts running through someone’s mind might be something like this: "And I only need to invest £200. That’s nothing. Let’s see what happens. I’m a smart woman. Scammers won’t fool me. If something goes wrong, I’ll just walk away and lose £200."
Everything is going according to the scammers’ plan. They know human psychology very well, so they keep bombarding the victim with calls and messages, convincing her there’s no risk.
As you’ve probably guessed, the Keir Starmer video was a deepfake. That means the criminals edited it using AI technology. And the woman believed it. How did investing £200 lead to losing £20,000?
It’s simple. The video was just the bait. The scammers convinced the woman that her £200 investment had grown to £25,000 in a short time—a staggering 12,400% increase! Can you imagine that? Even gangsters wouldn’t dream of such profits. But it didn’t seem to surprise the woman from Salisbury. She was already under the scammers’ spell, as if hypnotized.
The scammers told her she could earn even more but needed additional investments—£23,000. The woman went to the bank and took out a loan, a significant sum. But the bank approved it. She handed the money over to the scammers, who promised she could withdraw it anytime she wanted. Meanwhile, her (fake) balance kept growing, and she suspected nothing. Everything changed when the so-called "cooling-off period" ended. During this time, she could have requested her money back. After it expired, all contact with the scammers ceased. In short, the carriage turned into a pumpkin. The woman realized she hadn’t made any real investments. All the calculations were fake, and the Prime Minister’s video was fabricated.
Now, the woman will be paying for her naivety for 27 years—the time it will take her to repay the loan to the bank.
HOW TO SPOT A DEEPFAKE?
Examine the video closely:
Deepfakes may sound robotic, fail to blink naturally, or feature a strange background or unusual wording.
Remember, free cheese is only in a mousetrap:
Promised the world? It’s likely a scam.
Google it:
Search for confirmation of the information.
Use detection tools:
Here’s one service to help identify deepfakes: Deepware Scanner.
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Photos and news from the BBC website were used in the preparation of this material.
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