Sadly deepfake is becoming more accessible day by day

A Tech Transparency Project (TTP) investigation published on October 1, 2025, revealed that scammers are utilizing deepfake technology to execute large-scale financial fraud on Meta's advertising platforms. By impersonating prominent political figures, these actors have successfully promoted fictitious government spending cards and benefit programs to vulnerable populations, particularly seniors.

What happened

The TTP investigation identified 63 distinct scam advertisers who collectively ran over 150,000 political ads on Facebook and Instagram. These ads featured deepfake videos of President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and lawmakers including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders. The content of these videos was designed to deceive users into believing they were eligible for official Medicare, Social Security benefits, or stimulus checks.

Despite Meta’s stated policies prohibiting scams and its requirement for political advertisers to undergo a special authorization process, these fraudulent accounts were among the top political ad spenders on the platforms. The scam network collectively spent $49 million on advertising. In some instances, Meta allowed individual scam accounts to spend over $1 million on advertising before taking action to disable them. The investigation highlights a systemic failure in Meta’s ad review and enforcement processes, as scammers were able to run deceptive content for days or weeks. These findings occur against a backdrop of increasing online fraud, with the Federal Trade Commission noting a significant rise in reports from older adults who have suffered substantial financial losses to scams impersonating trusted government entities.