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WHAT THE ELON MUSK IMPOSTORS ARE SELLING​ ​ Criminals are using Musk’s likeness to sell various products or investments, including:  1. AN ENERGY-SAVING DEVICE A widely disseminated spam

email features an ad with Musk holding up some sort of handheld gadget, topped by a headline: “Elon Musk’s New Electricity Saving Invention Has Residents Saving Up to 90% Off Their Monthly

Electric Bill. Electric Power Companies Are Demanding It Be Banned Immediately!” Another variation on the ad refers to the gadget as Pro Power, and includes an image of Musk with, bizarrely,

the actor Leonard DiCaprio. A red button reads “Get It Now!” It appears to be the same product that several victims have reported to the Better Business Bureau (BBB)’s Scam Tracker in the

past several weeks alone. One claimed to have lost $152, writing, “Ordered three units of portable heaters advertised as being developed by Elon Musk. Advertised to lower heating costs. It

fails to deliver much heat whatsoever. Each heater can barely heat a closet. A 365-day return policy but there’s no way to return and get a refund to my credit card.” ​ ​ 2. A SURE-BET

INVESTMENT PLATFORM Musk is the most commonly impersonated public figure to appear in a widespread scam that uses deepfakes of celebrities (who also include Tucker Carlson and Ryan Reynolds)

to sell bogus investments in a crypto-based platform called Quantum AI, according to a 2024 report by the deepfake detection company Sensity. The report includes a fabricated video of Jim

Carrey saying he’d made big money by investing in Quantum AI: “I had no qualms about it — after all the creator of the platform is Elon Musk. Now my funds are growing dozens of times faster…

I highly suggest you try it too.”​ ​ Another deepfake video has a voice-over declaring that Musk and his partners have “already invested $54 billion” in Quantum AI. The video depicts Musk

on a stage saying, “I’ve developed a new algorithm that earns from $2,000 in five hours.” ​ ​ “These endorsements are entirely fictitious and designed to lure unsuspecting victims into

investing money on platforms that offer nothing in return,” the report notes.​ ​ 3. FREEBIES People have lost money or become vulnerable to identity theft by responding to messages on social

media announcing that Musk is giving away money — then the victims find out that first they need to pay a fee, or are asked for sensitive personal information. One victim who reportedly

lost $6,000 in the scam told the BBB that “the impersonator claimed to be Elon Musk promising a car, house $250000 [SIC]. I must pay for transportation of car and taxes.”​ ​ ​ AI

ADVANCEMENTS AND SCAMS​  ​These scams reveal the dark side of AI technology, in which the voices and faces of people you know can be impeccably faked as part of an effort to steal your money

or identity. ​ ​ The tech’s growing sophistication is making it far harder to tell if a video is fake, says Alexa Volland, video producer and deepfake expert with the News Literacy

Project, a nonprofit that works to counter the spread of misinformation. “Some of the very early AI-generated videos from several years ago were kind of eerie and scary to look at. A person

would have another arm pop out or another leg.” She points to one recent video on social media of a baby polar bear being rescued by firefighters in California: If you look closely the bear

has five limbs. But “as AI continues to improve,” she adds, “it's going to get more difficult for people to decipher what is true and what is false."​ ​ The alarm bells about AI’s

potential for harm began ringing in March 2023, when more than 1,000 tech leaders, including Musk, signed an open letter warning that AI tools present “profound risks to society and

humanity,” and urging a pause in companies’ development of the most powerful, advanced tech. “Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth?” the letter

suggested we ask ourselves. “Should we risk loss of control of our civilization?” The Trump White House has issued an executive order directing “the development of an AI Action Plan to

sustain and enhance America’s AI dominance, led by the Assistant to the President for Science & Technology, the White House AI & Crypto Czar, and the National Security Advisor.”​ ​

The United Nations, meanwhile, is calling for “a global approach” for governing AI; its goal is to have countries’ working together to develop an “understanding of its capabilities,

opportunities, risks and uncertainties,” as noted in the organization’s September report, “Governing AI for Humanity.”​​ ​  ​HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM IMPOSTER SCAMS​ ​TAKE A BEAT AND

CHECK YOUR EMOTIONS. If you see a video, ad, or message that makes you excited or anxious (scammers want your emotions to ramp up and overwhelm your rational thinking), stop and take a

breath. Does it make sense? Ask someone you trust for their thoughts if you’re not sure, and remember the old saying that if something sounds too good to be true, it almost surely is.  ​ 

​AVOID UNSOLICITED CALLS, TEXTS AND EMAILS. Because scammers often initiate contact by phone or text, one of the easiest ways to protect yourself from scams is to avoid answering calls or

texts from unknown numbers (those not in your contact list). ​GUARD YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION. To avoid identity theft, be careful about disclosing your full name, home address, Social

Security number, credit card and banking information, and other personal details. ​  ​THINK TWICE BEFORE CLICKING LINKS IN UNSOLICITED TEXTS OR EMAILS. Clicking the link could download

malicious software (malware) to your computer, or lead you to some sort of scheme to get you to reveal personal information. Instead, go to the website independently by typing the URL into

your browser — or use the company’s official app. ​ ​ DIG DEEPER. Don’t take an ad or any other unsolicited communication at face value, says BBB spokesperson Melanie McGovern: “Take that

extra step to say, OK, does this website look real? Maybe doing a search would bring up one of the BBB Scam Tracker reports, or a Reddit thread where people are talking about [how it’s a

scam].” ​ ​ REPORT SCAMS. If you spot a scam or you’ve been a victim of one, report it to the police, as well as the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov and the FTC at 

reportfraud.ftc.gov. The more information authorities have, the better they can identify patterns, link cases and ultimately catch the criminals.   ​ ​ ​