Facebook cracks down on celebrity deepfake scam after costing Australian $43 million

As artificial intelligence advances, fraud is becoming more complex. With this in mind, Meta has launched a new Fraud Information Exchange (FIRE) tool in Australia to reduce the huge financial losses suffered by victims in Australia.

Australia An increase was seen As the cryptocurrency boom continues, deepfakes of celebrities are promoting investment fraud. These scams used fake images of Australian celebrities such as billionaire Gina Rinehart and TV personality Larry Emdah. guardian he pointed out. In some cases, like deepfake photos, Animal activist Robert Irwin in handcuffsthe scam had a conspiratorial feel, as if law enforcement were trying to hide secret financial information from the public and celebrities were trying to bring it to light.

The FIRE tool is effectively a collaboration between Meta and banks to gather information about online fraud. It blocked 8,000 pages and 9,000 celebrity scams on Facebook in the first six months. guardian reported. Citing Australian Government Services con manAustralians reported losing $43.3 million (approximately US$30 million) to social media fraud between January and August alone. guardian Say.

Online fraud is a serious problem in Australia and elsewhere. of The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission reported Losses from social media fraud rose 16.5% last year to $93.5 million, or about $64 million. The FIRE Initiative is funded by Meta and run by Meta employees.

“Meta has an important responsibility to combat fraud targeting Australians on our apps,” said David Agranovich, Meta’s Policy Director for Global Threat Disruption. According to news site News.com.au. “In addition to investing in our own tools and technology, we are working with government and industry partners to combat this scourge. Fraud often spans multiple industries; [Australian Financial Crimes Exchange] We are a valuable partner in helping you identify and take action against scams targeting Australians. ”

How to avoid online scams

Mashable has written quite a bit about how to avoid scams. But generally, if you see a suspicious image of a celebrity being led away in handcuffs, for example, it’s best to verify. Be careful about sharing unsafe links or financial information.

So do scammers, so always be on guard.

“Scammers are not going to stop their operations,” Meta’s Agranovich said. guardian. “If we block them, they’re going to look for new ways to come back, new ways to get around our defenses. That’s why this kind of continued information sharing is so important.”