New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella is sounding the alarm on a surge of fake investment scams proliferating across Meta’s platforms — and they’re using AI-generated deepfakes to make them look real.

The schemes are targeting residents across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, using impersonations of well-known public figures to push fraudulent cryptocurrency investments. In one documented example, scammers used an AI-generated image of Kevin O’Leary — the businessman and Shark Tank personality — to falsely endorse an investment opportunity he had nothing to do with.

How the Scam Works

The playbook is polished and aggressive:

  1. Paid ads or viral posts appear on Facebook or Instagram featuring a celebrity endorsing an investment platform
  2. The celebrity image or video is AI-generated — the real person never said or did any of it
  3. The ad promises insider access, guaranteed returns, or risk-free profits
  4. Victims are directed to a fake platform where they deposit money — often in cryptocurrency
  5. The money disappears, and so does the “platform”

WhatsApp is also being used to conduct follow-up conversations, with scammers posing as investment advisers maintaining long-running conversations to build trust before the final ask.

The fraud doesn’t always end with the first deposit. In many documented cases, victims who make an initial investment are shown fake account dashboards displaying impressive returns. When they try to withdraw, they’re told they must pay additional fees, taxes, or “verification charges” first. This cycle repeats until the victim runs out of money or stops paying.

Why Deepfakes Make This Harder to Detect

AI-generated video and image technology has made it dramatically easier to fabricate convincing endorsements from real people. A deepfake of a well-known investor saying “this platform changed my life” is far more persuasive than a text-only ad — and far harder for victims to dismiss.

The NH AG’s office noted that legitimate investment advisers rarely promote specific investment opportunities through social media ads. If a famous person is pushing a specific platform in your feed, skepticism is warranted.

The technology behind these fakes has improved rapidly. Research tracked by the AI Incident Database shows 8 million deepfake files now circulate online — up from 500,000 just three years ago. Human accuracy at identifying high-quality deepfakes has dropped to around 24.5%, worse than chance. What was once an obvious fake is now genuinely difficult to distinguish from real video.

What the Data Shows: The Scale of This Threat

New Hampshire ranks among the top 10 states nationally for fraud reports, according to FTC data. That’s a disproportionate impact for a state of its size — suggesting that residents are being specifically targeted, not just caught in broad national campaigns.

The investment fraud numbers nationally are staggering. In the first half of 2025 alone, Americans lost $3.5 billion to investment fraud through approximately 29,000 reported cases. The median loss for investment scam victims has reached $10,000 — higher than any other fraud category. And 78% of people who report an investment scam lost money, meaning these schemes convert at an unusually high rate.

Celebrity deepfake investment scams have been documented as one of the most financially destructive variants. In one high-profile case, an 82-year-old retiree named Steve Beauchamp lost $690,000 to a deepfake Elon Musk cryptocurrency scheme. “I mean, the picture of him — it was him,” he said afterward. That level of conviction — from a sophisticated deepfake — is exactly what the NH AG’s warning is trying to prevent.

Cryptocurrency is the preferred vehicle for these frauds for a reason: once transferred, crypto is virtually impossible to recover. In the first half of 2025, victims paid scammers $939 million in cryptocurrency — a $261 million increase from the same period the prior year. Investment scams accounted for nearly half of all cryptocurrency paid to scammers.

For more context on the investment fraud crisis, see: 2025’s Most Expensive Scams: Why Investment Frauds Are Costing Americans $9,000+

The Meta Platform Problem

Meta’s advertising systems have been repeatedly exploited to run these scams at scale. The fundamental issue: paid ad targeting allows scammers to reach specific demographics — particularly older users with disposable income — with fraudulent content that looks identical to legitimate advertising.

Despite Meta’s enforcement efforts, deepfake celebrity scam ads continue to appear on Facebook and Instagram. The volume of ad campaigns that scammers can launch simultaneously overwhelms any manual review process. By the time one ad is removed, the operators have launched new ones under different accounts.

WhatsApp adds a second layer to the scam. After a victim engages with an ad, they’re often moved to WhatsApp — a platform that Meta also owns — where “personal investment advisers” conduct extended conversations, build relationships, and methodically increase the ask. This transition from public platform to private messaging also moves the conversation out of any public visibility, making it harder to detect or track.

Why This Works on Careful People

Investment scams succeed not because victims are careless — but because the psychological engineering is sophisticated.

Social proof. A celebrity endorsement is powerful precisely because it implies the endorser has vetted the opportunity and is staking their reputation on it. When the celebrity is fabricated via AI, that trust is weaponized against you.

Confirmation bias. In an environment where cryptocurrency and AI investment stories routinely generate legitimate headlines about life-changing returns, a scam ad doesn’t look out of place. It fits a narrative that’s already been established.

Incremental commitment. Initial investments are often small. Victims who see “returns” on a fake dashboard invest more. Each successful small withdrawal (sometimes permitted by scammers to build confidence) reinforces trust in the platform before the large withdrawal is blocked.

Professional infrastructure. These operations run like businesses. They have polished websites, responsive “customer service,” professional-looking dashboards, and even fake regulatory documents. The production value is high because the returns are high.

Related reading: Deepfake Fraud Goes Industrial: The 2026 Explosion That’s Redefining Scams

Red Flags

  • Celebrity endorsements for investment platforms on social media — especially for cryptocurrency or AI trading
  • Promises of “risk-free” returns, “guaranteed” profits, or “insider access”
  • Cryptocurrency-only deposits with no option for traditional financial transfers
  • Pressure to act quickly before an “opportunity” closes
  • Requests for personal or financial information through social media DMs or WhatsApp
  • An investment platform you’ve never heard of, no matter how professional-looking
  • “Returns” visible in a dashboard, but fees required before withdrawal

Verifying Investment Opportunities

Before putting any money into an investment platform promoted on social media, take these steps:

  • Check your state’s securities regulator. Every state has one. The New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation is at sos.nh.gov/securities. If a platform isn’t registered there, that’s a red flag.
  • Use FINRA’s BrokerCheck at brokercheck.finra.org to verify whether a broker-dealer or investment adviser is legitimate and licensed.
  • Search the SEC’s EDGAR database to see whether the investment platform is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
  • Look up the celebrity. A 30-second search for the celebrity’s name and “investment scam” or “deepfake” will often turn up reports if the scam is known.
  • Never trust what you see in an ad alone. If an endorsement matters to your decision, find it independently — on the person’s verified official channels.

What to Do

  • Do not send cryptocurrency to any platform you haven’t independently verified through official regulatory channels.
  • Report suspected fraud to the NH Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
  • Report the ad to Meta using their in-platform reporting tools. This won’t immediately stop the scam, but it contributes to enforcement data.
  • If you’ve already invested: Contact your bank or financial institution immediately if any traditional payment methods were used. For cryptocurrency losses, file reports with the FBI’s IC3 and the FTC — and be wary of follow-up “recovery scams” that target people who’ve already been defrauded.

Related reading: AI-Powered Deepfake Scams: The Rising Threat of AI-Generated Fraud

If You’ve Already Invested

Recovery from cryptocurrency investment scams is exceptionally difficult. Once funds are transferred to a crypto wallet controlled by scammers, they can be moved, split, and laundered across dozens of wallets in minutes. That said, there are still steps worth taking:

  1. Stop sending money immediately. If the platform is telling you to pay fees before you can withdraw, that is not how any legitimate platform works — it is the classic escalation pattern of a pig-butchering scam. The more you pay to “unlock” your withdrawal, the more you will be asked for.
  2. Document everything. Take screenshots of the platform, your account dashboard, all conversations, and all transaction records. This documentation is essential for any law enforcement report.
  3. File reports. Report to the NH Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau, the FBI’s IC3, and the FTC. The FBI’s IC3 in particular has dedicated resources for cryptocurrency fraud investigations.
  4. Be wary of recovery scams. A common follow-up to investment scam victimization is a separate “recovery service” that contacts victims, claims to be able to retrieve lost funds for a fee, and simply steals the fee. These are scams targeting people who have already been scammed. No third party can recover cryptocurrency that has left your wallet.
  5. Report the ads. Report the specific Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp content to Meta using their in-platform reporting tools. This doesn’t undo your loss, but it contributes to enforcement data and may accelerate removal of the fraudulent content.

Stay informed about AI-powered scams at ScamWatch HQ.