“DO NOT BE FOOLED. DO NOT BE SWINDLED.”
Hanks for Nothing
Tom Hanks is pleading with netizens to avoid falling for online deepfake scams that use his likeness to hawk drugs and supplements.
In a Thursday evening Instagram post, the beloved actor issued a “public service announcement” — cheesily captioned with an old-timey “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” — warning that “there are multiple ads over the internet falsely using my name, likeness, and voice,” which Hanks says are being used to promote “miracle cures and wonder drugs.”
“These ads have been created without my consent, fraudulently and through AI,” the actor added. “I have nothing to do with these posts or the products and treatments, or the spokespeople touting these cures.”
“DO NOT BE FOOLED. DO NOT BE SWINDLED,” Hanks continued. “DO NOT LOSE YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY.”
You heard the man! If you see a social media-shared clip of Tom Hanks trying to sell you on a miracle pill or supplement — or anything, for that matter — air heavily on the side of caution.
Hard Earned Money
This isn’t the first time Hanks has been caught up in a deepfake scammer’s grift. In October, again taking to Instagram, the actor shared a screenshot of a deepfaked video clip of him that was being used to hawk a dental plan, which he captioned with an urgent “BEWARE!!”
“There’s a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me,” Hanks wrote. “I have nothing to do with it.”
In other words, Hanks has now had to deal with this repeatedly and is understandably getting a little annoyed. (It’s also worth noting that this is one kind of fraudulent, AI-abetted scammery that the Federal Trade Commission is currently attempting to crack down on.)
Hanks isn’t the only celebrity whose voices and visages have been used for dark purposes. A deepfaked copy of Tom Cruise’s voice, for example, was used to narrate a Russia-made propaganda clip designed to undermine trust in the International Olympic Committee, and both famous and nonfamous women have faced the creation and dissemination of nonconsensual deepfake pornography.
The web has always been home to frauds and scammers. But AI is making old problems worse, often through convincing deepfakes of recognizable, trustworthy figures.
If there’s any advice? Be extra careful with what you consume online these days (although in general, it’s best to avoid sketchy Facebook ads for random drugs.) As the real Hanks put it: DO NOT BE SWINDLED, folks.
More on deepfakes: Something Fascinating Is Wrong with the Eyes in Deepfakes
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