Senior lost almost $1M in 'increasingly common' deepfake scam - OrilliaMatters.com

In July 2025, an elderly widow living in Sault Ste. Marie was defrauded of nearly one million dollars after encountering a sophisticated cryptocurrency investment scam on Facebook. The victim was deceived by a video advertisement that utilized an AI-generated deepfake of Prime Minister Mark Carney, which urged viewers to invest $350 into a fraudulent scheme.

What happened

The incident leveraged artificial intelligence to impersonate a trusted public figure, a tactic that the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) notes is becoming increasingly common. The deepfake video featured the Prime Minister appearing to endorse a cryptocurrency investment opportunity, lending a false sense of legitimacy to the advertisement. Once the victim engaged with the scheme, she was pressured into transferring significant funds.

According to the CAFC, these scams often follow a pattern of promising guaranteed, high-yield returns with little risk while urging victims to act immediately. Fraudsters frequently instruct targets to invest through cryptocurrency exchanges or install remote access software on their home computers. The CAFC warns that criminals are increasingly using emerging technologies like deepfake videos and audio recordings to impersonate celebrities, financial experts, and government officials to facilitate investment fraud. Since 2022, the CAFC has received reports of over $1.2 billion in losses related to investment fraud, with cryptocurrency schemes accounting for the majority of these incidents. Officials recommend that individuals independently verify any investment opportunity promoted on social media, refrain from sharing personal information, and report suspicious advertisements to the platforms where they appear.