SCAM ADS ENDORSING a financial platform called “Ryan Chain” have been promoted on YouTube where they feature an Artificial Intelligence-generated video of Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary talking in a strange and distorted American accent.
One ad includes mispronunciations, such as “ree-side-dent” instead of “resident”, or “eern” instead of “earn” are common in text-to-speech software, which allows a computer programme generate audible speech from a text prompt.
“We have invested four billion dollars in this project, making it possible for every ree-side-dent of Ear-land to eern at least 27 thoo-sand dollars a month,” footage of Michael O’Leary appears to say.
The scam ad can be viewed here:
The audio is in contrast to the actual voice of O’Leary’s, who speaks in a fluent, Irish accent with irregular cadences.
The video appears in the form of a faked RTÉ News report, including the logo in the top-right corner, but appears to consist mostly of stock footage of Ryanair planes and people counting money as a smaller video of Michael O’Leary plays in the corner.
Clicking on the ad’s link takes users to a fake version of a news website.
“The project where you can earn from €60,000 per month is now available to all Irish citizens!” the fake article reads.
The fake article also claims that 100,000 Irish people have already signed up to the project, which they say requires a minimum initial investment of €350.
Registrar info from the website who.is shows that the site hosting the fake article was registered last September. And while the name of the registrant is “redacted for privacy”, they are registered as living in Reykjavik in Iceland.
However, there are some other details indicating that the site’s creators are based elsewhere, such as the use of the Indonesian word “kasir” instead of “cashier” in a photo on the site.
The ad follows the template of many other scams ads on social media that often feature fake RTÉ or Irish Independent reports, as well as celebrities.
A similar previous video featured an AI-generated Elon Musk and Irish BBC newsreader Tadhg Enright.
Previous ads of this nature have featured politicians Leo Varadkar, Micheál Martin and Enda Kenny, as well as television presenters such as Anne Doyle, Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh, Maura Derrane, Ryan Tubridy, Colette Fitzpatrick, Ciara Doherty, Brian Dowling, and Alan Hughes.
The Journal has previously debunked hoax ads featuring images of political strategist Alastair Campbell on the Late Late Show with Patrick Kielty; a fake interview of Eamon Ryan on the Tommy Tiernan Show; and fake photos of presenter Tommy Bowe being escorted by PSNI officers.
Google has removed the ad featuring the likeness of Michael O’Leary from YouTube since being contacted by The Journal and says they are working on ways to detect and remove deep fake advertisements that imply false celebrity endorsements.
“Protecting our users is a top priority and we have strict policies that govern the ads on our platform,” a spokesperson said.
“These scams are prohibited on our platforms and when we find ads that breach our policies we take immediate action, including removing the ads and suspending the account when necessary.”
This article was updated on 8 May with a response from Google.
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