Prominent Kiwi businessman Gareth Morgan appears as deepfake in investment scam

An AI-generated deepfake of Gareth Morgan is circling on social media. Photo / Gisborne Herald

Former economist and investment manager Gareth Morgan has warned Kiwis to be careful of a deepfake of him circling social media offering “crass” financial advice.

“Please be aware that there are a series of deepfake posts and videos of me presenting some pretty crass investment advice,” Morgan posted on Facebook.

“These are the product of some scumbag trying to elicit funds from you so it would be great if you could delete and report them as spam.

“I hope nobody falls victim to the work of such lowlife players on the international web.”

Morgan told the Herald he first heard about the deepfake scam from his daughter, after an advertisement featuring him came across her feed.

The fake Gareth Morgan appears in video and text format on both Facebook and Instagram.

“She’s pretty evil,” Morgan said of the deepfake scam.

“It’s pretty freaky, especially when I genuinely thought it was me.

“I went to the link and I looked at the video and I thought ‘yeah that is me’ ... it’s my voice, [but] I’ve never said that sort of thing. And then I realised the only thing about the video that wasn’t authentic was the background. I don’t recognise that building.”

Morgan said since posting about it to Facebook, he had had “a hell of a lot more calls” from people about to hand over their money.

Despite complaining to Facebook about the deepfake, he said he still hadn’t received any response from them.

“Still the video’s up and running ... [Facebook] haven’t done anything.”

The deepfake video of Morgan shows an artificial intelligence-generated (AI) version of him saying: “Hi, I’m Gareth Morgan, I’ve managed hundreds of millions and I tell you straight, banks aren’t in the business of growing your wealth, they’re in the business of growing their own ... ”

The deepfake Morgan says in the video he had teamed up with a US investment group to “focus on real opportunities in the US market”.

“No jargon, no sales spin, just proper analysis. If that sounds like you, come join us,” the deepfake Morgan says in the video.

In another scam post, potential victims are asked “what kind of annual return are you hoping to achieve with our help?”

Options range from 10-20% to upwards of 50%.

Morgan and his wife were early investors in Trade Me, which was founded by his son Sam.

Morgan was also a former leader of political party The Opportunities Party (TOP).

He remains an owner of A-League football side the Wellington Phoenix, through the consortium Welnix.

Last year, pop star Taylor Swift was the victim of sexually explicit and abusive deepfake images on social media.

The deepfake-detecting group Reality Defender found at least a couple dozen unique AI-generated images. The most widely shared were football-related, showing a painted or bloodied Swift that objectified her and in some cases inflicted violent harm on her deepfake persona.