At Triodos Bank, we’re here to help you stay informed and safe, so you can protect yourself from fraud.

‘Generative AI’ allows criminals to create videos, images and audio to mimic genuine individuals. These are called ‘deepfakes’.

Deepfakes are used in several common scams. Read more below on how these occur and how you can protect yourself.  

Investment and cryptocurrency scams 

Have you ever seen an advert on social media, promoting an investment or cryptocurrency ‘opportunity’ with temptingly high returns, often with little to no risk?  

Perhaps this ‘opportunity’ is backed by a celebrity who you recognise and trust, who appears in a video talking about the opportunity. 

There have been several recent cases where celebrities' likenesses have been used to promote fraudulent investment and cryptocurrency scams. Criminals use advanced AI technology to generate convincing video and audio clips of celebrities to manipulate and ultimately gain victims trust.  

What can I do to protect myself? 

• Be wary of investment and cryptocurrency opportunities where unusually high returns are promised. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. 

• Remember that trusted individuals and celebrities are convincingly impersonated to promote investments and cryptocurrencies. 

• Check the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) register to make sure firms and individuals are authorised. If they are, you’ll find registered details you can use to contact them, to help make sure you’re not dealing with a scammer.  

• Use the FCA’s ScamSmart Investment Checker to see if an investment is likely to be a scam.  

• Speak to a trusted friend or family member, or authorised financial advisor before making any large investments. 

Romance scams 

It’s easy to imagine how criminals can use generative AI to exploit individuals looking for companionship, either through creating entirely fictious identities or impersonating celebrities. AI also allows criminals to generate scripted conversations at speed, and generate realistic images and videos to lure and trick victims into sending money or purchasing “gifts”.  

See our article on romance scams to find out more on how these scams occur.  

What can I do to protect myself? 

• Always make arrangements to meet new acquaintances as soon as possible.  

• Reverse image search any photos sent by carrying out a Google image search for example. 

• Be aware of potential use of AI in these types of scams. Pay attention to any audio or video recordings to consider whether anything looks out of place.  

• Payments being requested through gift cards, crypto currency or money transfer agencies are always a warning sign of a scam.

• Do your due diligence independently. Ask your trusted friends and family for advice. 

• Contact your bank and cease all contact immediately. 

• Report to Action Fraud or Police Scotland (for Scotland) and the platform of contact. 

A trusted friend or family member… 

You may already be aware of the ‘Hey Mum’ scam: fraudsters often start off with a simple text or WhatsApp message and end in asking you to transfer money to pay an urgent bill.   

Increasingly, fraudsters are using AI to create realistic voice notes and even create real-time deepfakes to impersonate victims’ loved ones, making these types of scams even more difficult to recognise.  

What can I do to protect myself? 

• If you receive a message from an unknown number, attempt to call back via a trusted number that you already have for that individual. Failing this, attempt to contact them via another platform or channel.  

• Consider setting up a ‘safe word’ with friends and family to verify that any new messages or contact is genuine.  

• Fraudsters will try to rush you. Treat all unsolicited calls, emails, texts, and social media messages with caution – take time to stop and think.  

• Inform us as soon as possible of any security breach or potential breach. 

• If ever in doubt about whether something is a fraudulent request or genuine call us on 0330 355 0355.

• Follow the ABC framework for fraud: Accept nothing, Believe no-one and Confirm everything.

• Speak to your friends and family about fraud and how they can also protect themselves.

• Consider setting up two-step verification on platforms such as WhatsApp to add more security to your account.