A Pediatric Doctor's Face Was Cloned to Sell Supplements — and He Can't Get the Videos Down

A Pediatric Doctor's Deepfake Was Used to Sell Supplements — and He Still Can't Get the Videos Down

Dr. Maurice Sholas cares for severely ill children in New Orleans — kids with spina bifida, traumatic injuries, cases most doctors won't take. But scammers have used AI to create deepfake videos of his likeness promoting vitamin supplements, targeting Black consumers on platforms like TikTok and Twitter. He didn't consent. He wasn't told. And despite his efforts, he still hasn't been able to remove all of them.

The videos are deceptive enough that at least one person bought the supplements based on them. After Sholas told his story on local television, that victim reached out to him directly. The fake videos don't use his real voice — a dubbed voice is layered over his altered appearance — but his lab coat nametag remains visible. When he first tried to have the content removed, the account that posted it blocked him. Social media companies initially ignored his complaints. A lawyer redirected him to a PR firm, which quoted him up to $20,000 to push positive content and counter the spread.

According to fraud expert Frank McKenna, chief fraud strategist at Point Predictive, creating this kind of content doesn't require much. "Just a few seconds of video can create these — they call them AI avatars," he said. McKenna also warns that fake video is more pervasive than most people realize, estimating that at least half the videos people scroll past on social media contain some element of AI generation — and that the problem is only getting worse.

Gobble's Take: If scammers can weaponize a children's doctor's face to sell supplements and face almost no consequences, the platforms enabling that spread have some serious explaining to do.

Source: Red Tape / Substack

"Beng Laotou": The Romance Scheme Built on Small Asks, High Frequency

Most people have heard warnings about large-scale romance fraud. A pattern documented in Chinese-language media and described in a Weibo Substack report describes something different: a scheme called "Beng Laotou" — where "Beng" means to scam in northern dialect — that deliberately keeps each transaction small enough not to trigger alarm.

According to the report, the amounts requested per interaction typically range from 20 to 100 RMB, gathered through chatting, acting cute, or borderline sexting on social media platforms and dating apps. A single target sending those amounts regularly could transfer a couple hundred to even several thousand RMB each month without it ever feeling like a major financial loss. The scheme's low barrier to entry and low transaction amounts have helped it spread quickly, becoming, in some online communities, a normalized source of side income — and even a subculture, with jokes and commentary appearing under explanatory videos online.

The demographics involved are wider than the name suggests. Those being scammed are mainly lower-class middle-aged to older men, but the people running the scheme range from working-class city women to well-off urban adults — and, as in the case of one profiled practitioner, men posing as women online. The scheme requires no elaborate backstory or fake investment platform, just patience, fast typing, and the ability to stay up late managing multiple conversations simultaneously.

Gobble's Take: The ask being small is part of the design, not a reason to feel safer about it.

Source: Weibo Substack

AI Voice Cloning Powers a New Wave of Family Impersonation Scams

Financial regulators in Washington State are warning that fraud operations are more organized, polished, and persuasive than ever — and that AI has raised the stakes significantly. An emerging threat involves scammers who clone the voice or face of a target's relative, then use the simulation to plead for money. "It takes as little as 30 seconds of audio of their voice which may be something that they posted online on social media," said Faith Anderson, acting director of the Securities Division at the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions. "They can clone not only their voice, but their image as well as if they are live on screen with you."

Impersonation scams frequently use shock and emotion to overwhelm victims into making a bad decision, according to Ali Higgs, director of consumer services at DFI — a deliberate contrast to romance and investment scams, which stretch out over time to build trust. Payment methods matter too: crypto offers fewer legal protections than wire transfers if you need to recover funds. "There are laws in place that you can get your money back in certain situations. Crypto doesn't have some of the same protections," Higgs noted.

Officials emphasized that sophistication is the point. "The level of vigilance it takes to avoid becoming a victim of these scams is incredible," said Anderson. Anyone can be targeted — and regulators say embarrassment keeps too many victims from reporting losses at all.

Gobble's Take: When a 30-second Instagram video is enough to fake your grandson's voice, the threat isn't hypothetical — it's already in your contacts list.

Source: TVW Stories / Substack

In Case You Missed It

Yesterday's top stories:

• That 'I'm Not a Robot' Click Is Sending Texts to 17 Countries Without You Knowing
• Scammers Are Opening eBay Accounts in Your Name to 'Wash' Stolen Card Numbers
• Four Things in a Legitimate-Looking Email That Actually Signal a Scam