Investors allegedly scammed by fake Musk adverts

An online trading platform that sponsors South Africa's national football team and UFC champ Dricus du Plessis has denied being behind a series of deepfake adverts featuring Elon Musk after customers complained about being hoodwinked to invest, reports Fin24. Three clients of Banxso, a licensed brokerage, said they were channelled into signing up with the site after seeing adverts of Musk, Johann Rupert and other business leaders touting a ‘revolutionary’ investment platform. All say they then lost money. After clicking on the ads, they say they were guided to sign up with Banxso – still believing they were actually being connected to Musk's investment platform. But Banxso, which has a licence from the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), said it has no links to the deepfake adverts, which started to flood SA social media sites in November last year. Banxso’s chief operating officer, Manuel de Andrade, denied any links to the fake ads. Banxso, he said, adheres to ‘stringent internal vetting and sign-off procedures’ prior to releasing any form of marketing. Many of the fake ads bear the logo of a shadowy company called ‘Immediate Matrix’. The FSCA warned against Immediate Matrix in December, saying it suspects the company was using deepfakes to dupe investors. De Andrade said that Banxso was investigating whether it was the subject of some type of scam. ‘We are taking this matter very seriously, and we are investigating any legal options at our disposal. We have also opened a case of fraud with the SAPS and the case is currently under investigation.’ The brokerage has also been in contact with the FSCA, which is conducting its own investigation into what is happening.