Deepfake scams have arrived: Fake videos spread on Facebook, TikTok and Youtube

Long feared, the deepfake scam has finally arrived on social media.

Fake videos of celebrities hawking phony services have begun to gain some traction on major social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.

Last week, NBC News viewed more than 50 videos posted to those sites that featured computer-manipulated images and audio of well-known people, all of which appeared to have been created to scam viewers out of money.

Almost all of them centered on Elon Musk, with manipulated videos of several news and television personalities — including CBS News anchor Gayle King, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and HBO host Bill Maher — falsely claiming Musk had invented a technologically advanced investment platform.

Most of the videos continued with a similarly deepfaked Musk, who encouraged viewers to invest their money in the nonexistent platform. Musk, the owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, has promoted some cryptocurrencies in the past, leading to his becoming extremely popular with scammers who use his image for their own gain. There is no evidence Musk had anything to do with the videos.