A deepfake Elon Musk livestream on a hijacked "SpaceX"…

In June 2024, scammers executed a sophisticated fraud by hijacking an established YouTube channel to broadcast a deepfake of Elon Musk. The operation coincided with genuine SpaceX launch activity, leveraging the real-world event to lend credibility to the deceptive livestream.

What happened

The attackers took control of a YouTube channel already possessing a large subscriber base and rebranded it to appear as an official SpaceX account. During the broadcast, the deepfake featured an AI-generated version of Elon Musk that successfully mimicked his specific speech patterns and stutters. The stream displayed a QR code on-screen, instructing viewers to send cryptocurrency with the promise that their funds would be doubled. This operation effectively exploited multiple trust signals simultaneously: an existing channel with verified subscribers, the timing of a real-world space launch, and high-fidelity AI face and voice synthesis. This type of deepfake fraud utilized the perceived legitimacy of the platform to mislead viewers, with reports indicating that a single associated scam wallet managed to accumulate millions in stolen assets.