Taylor Swift Fans Were Scammed By AI-Generated Le Creuset Ads

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While the real Taylor Swift would never steer us wrong, her evil twin (read: an AI-generated avatar created by con artists) absolutely would.

According to The New York Times, unidentified scammers used artificial intelligence and Taylor Swift's likeness to endorse a fake Le Creuset cookware giveaway to steal money and data. Though Taylor is, indeed, a fan of Le Creuset, she has no formal deal with the luxury cookware brand despite how it appeared in online videos.

The outlet reports that the fake promotional videos featured an uncanny Swift lookalike that was created with AI technology to replicate her appearance and voice.

"Hey y'all, it's Taylor Swift here," the AI Swift said in the ad. "Due to a packaging error, we can't sell 3,000 Le Creuset cookware sets. So I'm giving them away to my loyal fans for free."

Users were encouraged to click a button on the ad and complete a short survey. They were redirected to legit-seeming websites like The Food Network with fake testimonials on the products, Page Six reports.

And while we don't know who exactly is behind the con, a Facebook account titled "The most profitable shares" posted the Swift scam to its page. Swift's reps have yet to comment on the scandal, however, Le Creuset has released a statement of its own:

"Le Creuset is not involved with Taylor Swift for any consumer giveaway. All approved Le Creuset giveaways or promotions come from the official Le Creuset social accounts. Consumers should always check Le Creuset’s official social accounts and website before clicking on any suspicious ads."

Just last month, the Better Business Bureau warned the public about these highly-convincing deepfake scams.

"Scammers use deepfake technology to trick people. They take real video clips and photos of a person and use them to create new videos and audio clips. Deepfake images and videos can be surprisingly realistic," the BBB warned in a statement. "Before you make a purchase, take a minute to reexamine the post and social media account. The photos and videos are most likely fake. If you make a purchase, you'll lose money (often more than you expected) on a product that is substandard or doesn't exist."

Tom Hanks and CBS Mornings host Gayle King have similarly been used in AI scams, per CBS. According to the outlet, King recently shared a statement to her Instagram account denying claims she is affiliated with the fake weight loss ads circulating the internet with her likeness and told followers not to "be fooled by these AI videos."

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