Jennifer Aniston, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez giveaway videos are deepfake scams

Videos have recently been shared widely across social media claiming to show various celebrities hosting giveaways. 

Jennifer Aniston in one video appears to be giving away Apple MacBooks. Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez are among the celebrities who appear to be advertising Le Creuset cookware. 

But those videos don’t actually show the celebrities themselves. They are deepfakes likely created with some form of artificial intelligence (AI) software. People online sharing these videos say these videos are a scam, and the AI used to create it is getting better.

VERIFY is here to help prevent you from falling victim to these types of celebrity scams with tips to help you spot AI.

THE SOURCES

• The MIT Media Lab, a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• University of Denver Information Security Department
• Boston University’s IT department 
• InVid and RevEye, footage forensics tools
• Original video of Jennifer Aniston published by the Wall Street Journal
• Original video of Selena Gomez published by Vogue

WHAT WE FOUND

There are several types of manipulated videos that can spread false information. Two of the most common are deepfakes and shallowfakes. A deepfake video is made using artificial intelligence technologies, like programs that can be used to replace or synthesize faces, speech or expressions of emotions.

Shallowfakes are created using simple video editing software; scammers make basic edits to combine or alter existing videos.

In the examples we found of celebrities appearing to be giving away items, those are deepfakes created with the intention of scamming people into providing personal or financial information.

When we reverse image searched a screenshot from the Jennifer Aniston MacBook giveaway video, we found it was actually created using a video published by the Wall Street Journal. The original video is a clip from an interview Aniston did in August 2023 about her career – she was not giving away MacBooks.

The Selena Gomez giveaway deepfake was created using an interview between Gomez and fashion magazine Vogue about her fashion looks over the years, not LeCruset cookware. 

Everything in the real and fake videos match, except for the words being said.

If you see a celebrity ad or endorsement and wonder if it was made using AI, here are some tips that can help you identify AI and avoid falling for the scam.

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1. How to spot a deepfake

Here are questions to ask yourself when determining whether a video is real or fake:

1. Movement - How is the subject moving in the video? Does their body language and facial expressions appear odd?
2. Background - What does the background look like? Is it blurry, static or does it appear out of place?
3. Source - Who published the video and how was it shared? Does the video have a watermark or logo?
4. Context -  Is there enough context to explain what is happening in the video? Does historical context align with what you’re seeing?

The MIT Media Lab, a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, offers these tips to help detect deepfakes:

• Pay attention to the eyes and eyebrows. Do shadows appear in places that you would expect?
• Pay attention to eyewear. Is there any glare? Is there too much glare? Does the angle of the glare change when the person moves? 
• Pay attention to the facial hair or lack thereof. Does this facial hair look real? Deepfakes might add or remove a mustache, sideburns, or beard.
• Pay attention to blinking. Does the person blink enough or too much? 
• Pay attention to the size and color of the lips. Does the size and color match the rest of the person's face?

2. Conduct a reverse image search

Celebrities are regularly caught on camera, interviewed or photographed, so deepfakes are typically created using a real video the celebrity appeared in. If you conduct a reverse image search of a keyframe or screenshot from the video, you’ll likely  find the original video that was used to create the deepfake. 

To conduct a reverse image search through Google using your computer, follow these steps:

1. Right-click on the photo in your Chrome browser and select “Search image with Google.” The results page will show you other places the image may have appeared.
2. You can also go to images.google.com, click on the camera icon and upload an image that you’ve saved to your computer. This should also show a results page. 

Google also has guides on reverse image searching from your iPhone or Android device. 

RevEye is a browser extension you can install that also allows you to conduct a reverse image search by right-clicking any image online.

A website called TinEye also allows you to upload an image from your computer to find where it has appeared online. 

3. Examine the link before you click

If a link looks suspicious, you can hover your mouse over it to see where the hyperlink will actually take you, a guide on online safety from Stony Brook University says. For example, if the message comes from someone claiming to be from one company, but the link you’re hovering over goes to a different website, that’s suspicious. 

Boston University’s IT department says to use common sense and ask yourself: “Does a website look strange to you? Is it asking for sensitive personal information? If it looks unsafe, don't take the risk.”

“If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Is the website offering you a product or service at an unheard of price? Or maybe they are promising you a huge return on investment? If the offer looks too good to be true, trust your instincts. Do some research to find reviews or warnings from other users,” Boston University’s website says. 

If the suspicious site’s URL isn’t the same as the official website of the brand being endorsed, that’s a red flag. Avoid clicking on it, and if you do, don’t enter any personal information.

Here are some tips to consider before you click on any link. The University of Denver Information Security Department says to take a look at the web address, or URL, itself for these common red flags: 

• The end of the URL has characters that don’t seem like they belong. Like underscores, hyphens or symbols. For example, google.com is not the same as google-search.com.
• The URL is entirely numbers. 
• The link is shortened, which usually means it’s not in a typical “www.example” form. 

VERIFY reached out to Meta for comment on these deepfake scams and did not hear back at the time of publication.

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