Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
Elon Musk endorses cryptocurrency, promises to give away 5,000 Bitcoin and 1,00,000 Ethereum.
Fact
Viral videos were found to be deepfakes.
A slew of videos, purportedly showing X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk endorsing cryptocurrency by holding a “special giveaway event for all crypto fans”, have gone viral across social media. “I am giving away 5,000 Bitcoin and 100,000 Ethereum,” Musk appears to say in the videos, both of them 26 seconds long.
The archived versions of the posts can be seen here and here.
Fact Check
Newschecker noticed that the lip movements of Musk seemed unnatural and were not completely in sync with the speech, raising our doubts on whether it was manipulated by AI.
Video 1
Newschecker ran a reverse image search of keyframes, which led us to this Youtube video, uploaded by CBS21 News on October 21, 2024, headlined, “Elon Musk holds Pa. [Pennsylvania] town hall, talks about free speech and right to bear arms after awarding $1M”. We learnt that the tech billionaire had held a series of town halls in support of Donald Trump during the US presidential elections, even as a huge legal row erupted after Musk decided to announce a million-dollar check as a giveaway to US voters who signed his political action committee’s petition endorsing the US Constitution.
At no point in the speech did Musk promote cryptocurrency or a giveaway for Bitcoin and Ethereum. We then ran the viral video past TrueMedia, an AI content-detection tool, which noted “substantial evidence of manipulation”.
“The transcript presents an announcement of a giveaway event involving a substantial amount of cryptocurrency, which is a common theme in scams and fraudulent schemes. The language is promotional and lacks the formal tone typically associated with legitimate corporate announcements. Additionally, the mention of a specific website (eloncrypto.org) suggests a potential phishing attempt. The overall context and presentation are indicative of a fake or scam-related message rather than a real spoken audio transcript,” read the report, confirming that it was a deepfake video.
Video 2
Newschecker ran a reverse image search of keyframes, which led us to this Youtube video, dated October 11, 2024, headlined, “Elon Musk ROBOTAXI”. We learnt that Tesla CEO Elon Musk, at a glitzy unveiling last month, showcased a long-awaited robotaxi with two gull-wing doors and no steering wheel or pedals and surprised with robovan, betting on a shift in focus from low-priced mass-market cars to robotic vehicles. At no point in the speech did Musk promote a cryptocurrency scheme or giveaway.
We ran the video past Truemedia, which found “substantial evidence of manipulation”. “The transcript appears to be a scripted piece rather than a real spoken audio. The announcement of a massive cryptocurrency giveaway, especially from a high-profile company like Twitter, is highly suspicious and aligns with common scam tactics. The language is promotional and lacks the natural flow of genuine conversation. Additionally, the mention of a specific website (Eloncrypto.org) is a typical characteristic of phishing attempts. The overall tone and content suggest it is a fabricated message intended to deceive,” read the tool’s report.
Newschecker then looked up elon-crypto.org on Scam Detector, a major fraud prevention resource, which marked the website as “Untrustworthy. Risky. Danger.”
“The algorithm detected high-risk activity related to phishing, spamming, and other factors noted in the Untrustworthy. Risky. Danger. tags above. Long story short, we recommend staying away from this website…,” read the review, giving elon-crypto.org one of the lowest trust scores on the platform: 13.9.
Musk A Frequent Target
Newschecker learnt that scammers have been using deepfake videos of Elon Musk to promote cryptocurrency scams on YouTube, tricking viewers into investing through fake links and QR codes. “These videos, designed to look like legitimate endorsements, have flooded YouTube, tricking unsuspecting viewers into believing Musk himself is backing these crypto schemes. The scariest part? Many of these scams are flying under the radar, leaving countless people falling victim before they even realize what’s happened,” read a CloudSek report, dated September 27, 2024.
“What makes these scams so believable is that Musk is genuinely interested in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Dogecoin. Scammers latch onto this fact, using deepfake videos to make it seem like Musk is backing their shady crypto ventures,” further read the report, stating that it identified at least 15 different YouTube channels, many of which were verified, pushing the same or similar scams.
Similar features on how Musk has often become a prime target for online scammers can be seen here, here and here. According to the reports, the scammers would edit a genuine interview or event of Musk, replacing his voice with a replica using sophisticated AI tools. The tools could alter minute mouth movements to match the new script they had written for the digital fake, similar to how it was done for the latest videos that went viral amid the 2024 US presidential elections. Newschecker had earlier debunked a viral deepfake video of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani launching his AI trading app, developed in partnership with Elon Musk’s team.
UPDATE ON 11/11/2024
Claim
Another 19-second video of Musk promising a cryptocurrency giveaway and link went viral across social media after the US elections.
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
Fact
Newschecker ran a reverse image search of keyframes of the video, which led us to this interview of Musk with American conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson, uploaded on Youtube on October 11, 2024
At no point in the speech did Musk promote a cryptocurrency scheme or giveaway. We ran the video past TrueMedia, which detected “substantial evidence of manipulation”. “The transcript appears to be a promotional message for a cryptocurrency giveaway, purportedly associated with a high-profile individual (implied to be Elon Musk). The language is concise and direct, typical of marketing or scam attempts rather than genuine spoken audio. The mention of a specific website and the promise of a large sum of money in a short time frame are common characteristics of fraudulent schemes. Additionally, the lack of conversational elements or natural speech patterns further suggests that this is not a real spoken audio transcript but rather a scripted piece designed to entice or deceive,” according to the tool.
Newschecker then looked up elon22.com on Scam Detector, a major fraud prevention resource, which marked the website as “Doubtful. Medium-Risk. Alert”. “…The algorithm detected potential high-risk activity related to phishing, spamming, and other factors noted in the Doubtful. Medium-Risk. Alert. tags above. Long story short, we caution you about using this website,” read the review.
Conclusion
Viral videos of Elon Musk promoting cryptocurrency schemes and giveaways were found to be deepfakes.
Result: False
Source
Scam Detector website
TrueMedia tool
Youtube video, CBS 21 News, October 21, 2024
Youtube video, NTV International, October 11, 2024
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
