Stirling Marathon deepfake video — Nov 2026

Stirling Marathon, an appliance manufacturer based in Elora, Ontario, recently became the target of a sophisticated AI-driven scam. The company, which specializes in refrigerators, freezers, and coolers, was falsely depicted in a viral YouTube video as the creator of a revolutionary washing machine called the "Keel." The misinformation campaign resulted in hundreds of emails, calls, and social media inquiries from consumers worldwide, with some individuals even arriving at the company's facility to purchase the non-existent product.

What happened

The scam involved a 16-minute YouTube video that combined legitimate marketing imagery and factory footage from Stirling Marathon with AI-generated content. The video featured the likeness of Phil Greenway, the company's vice president of sales and marketing, to lend credibility to claims that the "Keel" washer would disrupt the North American market with modular electronics and advanced sensors. Experts noted several technical indicators of AI synthesis, including inconsistent machine modules across scenes and nonsensical mathematical text.

Beyond the false product claims, the video included links to a $20 e-book, which researchers suspect was an additional revenue-generating component of the scam. The video garnered approximately 200,000 views before Stirling Marathon reported the content to YouTube and Facebook. YouTube subsequently terminated the channel for violating policies regarding scams and deceptive practices, though the company faced criticism for failing to proactively label the synthetic content as AI-generated. While the incident caused significant operational disruption, Stirling Marathon leadership noted that the event inadvertently increased brand awareness for their actual product lines.