Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), David Schwartz, has warned the crypto community about a circulating deepfake video. The clip falsely depicts the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Brad Garlinghouse, announcing a 100 million XRP airdrop. Given the current price of XRP, which hovers around $3.4, the fake media entices users with a $340 million bait.
Deepfake Video Exposed
The AI-generated video claims to celebrate Ripple’s victory in its legal battle against the SEC. The clip caught the CTO’s attention when it was posted by Honeybee, an X account that claims to tokenize real-world assets on Bitcoin. The fake video encourages viewers to participate in a “Ripple Rewards Program,” leading them to a website for airdrop claims.
While replying to the post, Schwartz bluntly dismissed the narrative, tweeting, “Obvious scam is obvious.” Despite the CTO’s comment, at press time, the video has not been taken down, which hints that scammers may have hacked the account or that it’s a scam account itself. It’s worth mentioning that the user is barely six months old on the X platform.
Nonetheless, numerous fake videos and links have been widely shared across platforms like X, aiming to exploit investors following XRP’s recent price rally. Such scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated and dangerous due to AI-generated deepfake technology, which can convincingly mimic the likeness and voice of public figures to mislead users.
Notably, prior legal developments involving Ripple have triggered waves of fake airdrop promotions. The recent occurrence mirrors scams that circulated after Ripple’s August 2024 court win and the July 2023 ruling that XRP is not a security. Schwartz and Ripple have always urged users to remain cautious, emphasizing there are no giveaways or special promotions.
And once again with Wednesday’s historic victory, we’ve seen an uptick in scams. 🚨🚨🚨
Please beware of scam “Ripple” accounts, fake executive accounts or others promoting “XRP Giveaways” or “XRP Airdrops.” Ripple and its executives will NEVER ask you to send funds anywhere. https://t.co/uGitnz71yn
— Ripple (@Ripple) August 9, 2024
Crypto Scammers Leverage AI Tech
Hong Kong authorities have busted a criminal group that used AI-generated face-swapping technology to carry out a crypto romance scam, resulting in $46 million lost to victims across Asia. The scammers created deepfake video profiles of attractive women, conducted live conversations to gain trust, and convinced victims to transfer funds into scam platforms.
Meanwhile, shortly after soaring to a $530 million valuation, the CAR meme token crashed by nearly 96% due to widespread suspicions that artificial intelligence was used to generate the promotional video. However, the president of the Central African Republic has continued promoting the cryptocurrency as a real-world asset token. He claims Investors can own land in the country by acquiring the token.
