Deepfake Scam Ads: How to Spot Fake Celebrity Endorsements

AI-generated video and voice have made fake celebrity endorsements cheap to produce and convincing enough to fool a quick scroll. Here's what to watch for before you click "buy".

What's actually happening

Scammers have started using AI video and voice-cloning tools to generate fake clips of well-known figures "endorsing" products — often gadgets, investment schemes, or miracle health products — that the real person has never used or heard of. These ads typically run on social media platforms and can look and sound convincing at a glance, especially when compressed and shrunk into a small video player. NZ consumer protection bodies and banks have issued general warnings about AI-assisted scam ads becoming more common, though the specific claims in any single ad should always be treated as unverified until proven otherwise.

Common warning signs

• Lip movements that don't quite match the audio, or blinking that looks unnatural
• A voice that's slightly flat, oddly paced, or has strange breathing patterns
• The ad links to a checkout page with a brand name you don't recognise, not the retailer's own site
• Urgency language — "only hours left", "secret deal" — pushing you to buy immediately
• Payment only accepted via bank transfer, crypto, or an unfamiliar checkout provider rather than standard card payment

How to verify before you buy

If an ad claims a well-known figure endorses a product, search their name plus the product name separately from the ad itself — legitimate endorsements are usually reported elsewhere too. Check whether the seller is a recognised NZ retailer (PB Tech, Noel Leeming, JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, etc.) rather than an unfamiliar storefront that only appeared recently. Reverse-searching a screenshot of the ad's product image can also reveal whether it's been used across multiple unrelated scam listings.

If you've already paid

Contact your bank immediately if you paid by card, since many card schemes offer chargeback protection for goods that were misrepresented or never delivered. Report the ad to the platform it appeared on and to NZ's consumer protection agencies. Acting quickly generally improves the chances of recovering funds, particularly with card payments compared to direct bank transfers.

Shopping safely going forward

Stick to well-known NZ retailers or verified marketplace sellers, use a comparison site to sanity-check pricing, and be sceptical of ads that feel engineered to create urgency. Deepfake technology will likely keep improving, so the most reliable defence is habit: verify the seller and the price independently, every time.