Sky News reporter falls victim to elaborate deepfake advertising hidden illicit casinos

A Sky News reporter launched a probe after she fell victim to an elaborate AI deepfake plot.

Mickey Carroll received an email with a video attached from a colleague at Sky when the following words jumped from the screen: “We’ve been deepfaked”. 

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The tech and science reporter watched with bemusement as her image appeared on the video forwarded by her colleague Matt Barbet. Instead of Mickey, ‘Olivia’ was introduced by an AI version of the presenter, after she bought a flash car as part of a purported £500,000 bonanza prize from a mobile game. 

This was the output from an elaborate international scam operation.

The faked video had lifted real footage from a previous conversation on air between Carroll and Barbet, discussing a lawsuit filed against Apple. The inclusion of an AI image of Apple chief Tim Cook added to the pretence, luring unsuspecting viewers.

"Important news for all iPhone owners," said deepfake Matt Barbet. 

"Apple CEO Tim Cook has unveiled an app that will earn money for anyone who has an iPhone." 

The objective was to convince viewers of the Facebook ads to download a mobile game, such as ‘Heavenly Sphere’.

The fake ads were found to be distributed by around 36 Facebook accounts with most of the apps advertised, hosted on Apple's App Store. The listings depicted cartoon animals and inviting descriptions, promising “a thrilling cosmic adventure” or “a maze full of obstacles and unexpected encounters”.

What lurked beneath the veneer of a colourful, seemingly family friendly digital game landscape was a backdoor to an illicit online casino catalogue.

The links led to the homepages of various unlicensed casinos that are supposed to be banned in the United Kingdom, but they were open and accessible, offering a range of gambling options including slots, roulette, and sports betting.

As is often the case with these sites, Carroll reported no age verification checks, no identity requirements, and no signs of any regulation. This is the Wild West of illicit online gambling.

The alarming discovery led to a full scale investigation by the UK Gambling Commission and Apple’s law enforcement division.

Andrew Rhodes, the Chief Executive of the Commission was blunt in his assessment. 

"If you're gambling on an illegal casino, there's no protection for you. You don't know where your money is being held, where your financial details have gone. You are vulnerable to something bad happening to you,” he warned.

"They're illegal for a reason," stated Rhodes.

He continued to detail that these elaborate operations are a money-making exercise, to assist money laundering activity, and to steal identities. 

Trust your instinct, if something looks or doesn’t feel right, don’t take the risk. Especially if you are intending to play a mobile game, but instead are presented with a very different, illegal, gambling portal. 

Deepfakes are getting more convincing so it's important to be alert. 

In this instance, real Sky News footage and imagery of real professionals were lifted and appear to have been fed into a complex AI generator to create the fake content. Although careful consideration reveals movements out of sync with the audio, these scams can be very convincing. 

A search of Meta's Ad Library revealed thousands of deepfakes, reflecting the extent of the problem. 

It's a growing issue, with the Gambling Commission insisting Apple and other big tech giants need to do more. 

"If you are presenting something to consumers, you've got an obligation to make sure it is what it says," added Rhodes, while cybersecurity experts have said it is relatively easy to generate a ‘game’ and mask the illegal casino links.

The sophistication of the scam is heightened with real details of individuals and legitimate businesses being listed, unwittingly, as the owners and hosts of these malicious apps.