Deepfake Youtube Scam Involving Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Uncovered by Redditors

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Reddit users have identified a deepfake video of Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse asking XRP holders to transfer coins to a certain address, with the promise of doubling their original investment.

Redditor GabeSter shared the deepfake video in a Reddit thread posted on r/Cryptocurrency on Wednesday, asserting that Youtube has refused to remove the video for over a month.

In the unlisted video titled “Calling All Ripple Holders Immediately,” a deepfaked version of Garlinghouse is seen inviting viewers to participate in an “XRP X2” event, saying that Ripple would “double the amount” of XRP sent to an address provided after scanning a bar code.

The video currently has over 20,000 views despite being unlisted and unsearchable on YouTube.

Another Redditor commented that they had observed a similar YouTube ad on both November 25 and December 3. Other participants in the discussion also asserted encountering comparable deepfake ads on the platform.

Despite the obviously fake elements of the ad, GabeSter noted that Google has refused to take down the video, claiming that it does not violate its policies. Redditor Maxx3141 asserted that the reason the video has not been taken down is because it has not been checked by a human.

“My guess is they are using bots to do the work, and these bots are terribly easy to fool,” said Redditor Maxx3141. “But after almost a month, this shit is still airing and I bet they got hundreds if not thousands of reports, but still no one checks it by hand.”

Users on Reddit also posted a link to an unlisted video featuring the deepfake ad on YouTube. GabeSter cautioned others against engaging with the video’s QR code.

This isn’t the first time Garlinghouse’s likeness has been used in a deepfake video scam. Last month, the Ripple CEO posted on X warning XRP holders to watch out for fraudulent schemes and giveaways, after a similar video showcasing Garlinghouse endorsing a fictitious 100 million XRP giveaway and promising to double users’ holdings was published on YouTube. 

“There’s been an uptick in deepfake scam videos (ex below) overlaying new words with old video footage from Ripple’s events (@YouTube are you asleep at the wheel again?!),” Garlinghouse wrote on X with a screenshot of the aforementioned video. “Reminder: don’t trust, verify (all approved messaging will only come from official Ripple accounts).”

In 2020, both Brad Garlinghouse and Ripple initiated legal proceedings against YouTube, asserting that the video-streaming platform enabled scammers to promote deceptive schemes that negatively impacted their brand and reputation.

The case reached a resolution in 2021 when the involved parties agreed to collaborate in order to prevent, detect, and remove such scams from the platform.

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