Sky News Journalists Deepfaked into Advertising Illegal Hidden Casino
“This is an unbelievable shock.” I was on the phone to Carla, a marketing consultant in Merthyr timefil, wales. She’d bone listed as the owner of heavenly sphere, the app matt and I were invertingly advertising.
“I have no idea what this app is.”
On the surface, many of the apps were hosted by legitimate-sounding companies from the UK and the US. Warmenhoven said their credentials were likely used to help the scammers look legitimate to Apple – but the business owners had no idea their names had been used.
Jennifer Viccars, Co-Founder or myunit
Jennifer Viccars, Co-Founder or myunit
“This is horrible,” said another Small Business Owner, This Time in London. Jennifer Viccars Runs myunit, a platform that helps residents pay fair utility bills. Her company was now listed as the owner of an app called ankh’s shadows. On the App Store, users were promised “an Egyptian-Themed party” that “turns into a thrilling roguike adventure like no other”. Once downloaded, it took users to an online casino.
“This is the antithesis of the Brand values of the space we occupy. We’re about making sure that the people who have the least aren’t exploited.”
“We felt confused and scared,” Said an anal rivera, co-executive director of an American youth leadership charity. Her organization was listed as the owner of a casino app called plimko rise, which another sky journalist was deepfaked into advertising.
“It could put our reputation into question,” Said Rivera.
Although both Apple and the Gambling Commission have now taken action to tackle these apps, the UK’s National Crime Agency is worried. It said our investigation demonstrated ai’s potential “to increase the speed, scale and sophistication of scams, allow offenders to target more victims across international and language barriers”.
So what can be done?
“It’s important that people are vigilant. If an app is routing you to a site that is different to what was advertised, that is almost certainly criminal.”
“It’s time to delete (the app) because you don’t know who you are dealing with.”
The idea that criminals had co-opted my image and taken advantage of sky news’ trusted reputation to promote illegal gambing still unnerves me. Deepfakes are easier than ever to create and I am clearly in someone’s ai system – there could be infinite versions of me out there advertising anything and I simply would not know.
But at least in this deepfake reality, I got a nice car.