AI-generated videos impersonating celebrities and public figures are increasingly being used in online fraud schemes, particularly across social media platforms and private messaging apps.
While deepfakes were once rare and experimental, recent data shows that manipulated audio, images, and video are now being produced at a scale that challenges traditional verification methods.
What the Data Shows
According to DeepStrike, deepfake production was projected to exceed 8 million files in 2025, representing a sixteenfold increase since 2023.
The report highlights how advances in generative AI have shifted manipulated media from an isolated threat into a systemic information risk, especially when distributed through high-trust channels like celebrity content.
Why?
Experts point to a structural shift in how fraud is carried out. Celebrity deepfake scams are no longer manual, one-off operations. They are increasingly automated, scalable, and coordinated using multiple AI systems at once.
According to Europol, the volume of synthetic media is expected to grow so rapidly that by 2026, up to 90 percent of online content may be AI-generated, significantly reducing the reliability of visual and audio cues people once relied on to judge authenticity.
Security researchers and product teams tracking deepfake abuse say three developments are accelerating celebrity-based scams in particular.
AI Agent Orchestration
Fraud operations now use multiple AI systems working together. One system gathers background information and targets potential victims, another generates the synthetic video or voice, and a third adapts messaging based on what succeeds or fails.
This coordination allows scams to run continuously and improve over time with minimal human involvement.
“We’re seeing scams shift from isolated impersonations to coordinated AI systems that learn and adapt,” says Olga Scryaba, AI Detection Specialist and Head of Product at isFake.ai. “That makes celebrity scams more persistent and harder to disrupt.”
Professionalized “Persona Kits”
Fraudsters increasingly rely on ready-made identity kits that bundle synthetic faces, cloned voices, and detailed backstories.
These kits reduce the technical skill required to impersonate a public figure and make large-scale fraud more accessible and repeatable.
For celebrities, whose images and voices are widely available online, these kits can be assembled using legitimate public footage, making the resulting impersonations more convincing.
Declining Reliability of Human Judgment
Experts note that voice cloning and video synthesis have reached a point where even trained professionals can struggle to detect manipulation without tools. As synthetic media quality improves, instinctive “something feels off” reactions are becoming less reliable.
“The problem is not just better fakes,” Scryaba explains. “AI content is published and consumed in spaces designed for speed and emotional engagement, like social media or news feeds, shorts, reels etc.
She also adds that people online just scroll without stopping to fact-check, without critical evaluation, and rarely pausing to question whether what they’re seeing is authentic.
“In that context, the line between real and AI content blurs because synthetic content shows up more and more often, that people stopped noticing or questioning it altogether,” she notes.
The Steve Burton Deepfake Romance Scam
One well-documented example involved a deepfake impersonation of Steve Burton, known for his role on General Hospital.
In this case, scammers used AI-generated video and voice messages to convince a fan that she was in a private relationship with the actor.
Over time, she transferred more than $80,000 through gift cards, cryptocurrency, and bank-linked services before the fraud was discovered by her daughter.
Analysis of the media used in the scam showed characteristics consistent with synthetic content, including cloned voice patterns and subtle visual inconsistencies that are difficult to identify without technical tools.
“The risk is no longer limited to obviously fake videos,” says Scryaba. “Modern deepfake scams rely on realism, repetition, and personalization. Victims are often targeted over weeks or months, which reduces skepticism and increases financial harm.”
How to Protect Yourself From Celebrity Deepfake Scams
While no single method is foolproof, experts recommend a combination of behavioral and technical precautions, especially when a message involves money, urgency, or secrecy.
1. Treat Private Celebrity Contact as a Red Flag
Public figures do not privately solicit money, investments, or relationships. Any unsolicited message claiming to be from a celebrity should be treated as suspicious, regardless of how realistic it appears.
2. Slow Down High-Pressure Requests
Scams often rely on urgency to override skepticism. Requests for secrecy, rapid action, or unconventional payments such as gift cards or cryptocurrency are consistent warning signs across documented cases. The same caution applies to ads on social platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Promotions that use a celebrity’s face or voice to push “investment opportunities” or miracle medical products should be treated with the same skepticism as a private message asking for money.
3. Verify Before You Act
For high-stakes situations, verification should extend beyond visual inspection. Experts increasingly advise cross-checking claims through independent channels and using verification tools when available before responding or sending money.
4. Reduce Your Public Training Data
If you’re a public figure or concerned about scammers cloning your voice or likeness to target loved ones, limit how much personal video, audio, and detailed life information you share publicly. The less material available online, the harder it is for bad actors to generate convincing, personalized deepfakes.
“As synthetic content becomes more common, verification has to become a habit,” Scryaba says. “The cost of assuming something is real is simply too high.”
