Purported AI-Generated Deepfake of Steven Bartlett Reportedly Used to Promote Fake WhatsApp Investment Group

A purported deepfake video of entrepreneur and BBC Dragon's Den investor Steven Bartlett circulated on Instagram in April 2025, allegedly claiming to offer exclusive stock tips and inviting users to join a WhatsApp trading group. The reported video referenced U.S. tariff policies to entice viewers with promises of rapid returns. Bartlett's team confirmed the video was fake and worked with platforms to remove it, warning that scammers were attempting to harvest contact details for further fraud.

Risk classification

• Primary risk domain: 4 Malicious actors
• Primary risk subdomain: 4.3 Fraud, scams, and targeted manipulation

The incident involves the targeted use of a synthetic celebrity deepfake to impersonate a trusted individual for the purpose of executing an investment scam.

Causal factors

• Entity: Human
• Intent: Intentional
• Timing: Post-deployment

The incident was caused by human scammers who intentionally created and deployed a deepfake video of Steven Bartlett to defraud social media users.

EU AI Act risk tier

• Risk tier: 3 Limited Risk

Limited Risk: The system is used to generate AI-generated content such as deepfakes, which under the EU AI Act are subject to transparency obligations to inform users that the content is synthetic.

AI system and alleged parties

• AI system: None named
• AI purpose: Deepfake Video Generation; Voice Generation
• Behaviour type: Tool
• Alleged developer: Unknown voice cloning technology developers, Unknown deepfake technology developers
• Alleged deployer: Unknown scammers impersonating Steven Bartlett, Unknown scammers
• Alleged harmed parties: Steven Bartlett, Investors, General public, Fans of Steven Bartlett

Harm severity

Severity ratings are based on this scale.

Highest direct severity in any category: Minor. Severity is scored from Negligible to Catastrophic in each harm category, for harm the reports describe as caused directly or indirectly by the AI system.

• Physical: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Infrastructure: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Property: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Financial: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Environmental: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Malicious content: direct Minor, indirect Negligible
• Differential treatment: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Civil rights: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Democracy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Privacy: direct Negligible, indirect Minor
• Psychological: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Epistemic: direct Minor, indirect Negligible
• Child sexual exploitation and abuse: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible

Malicious content

Reported: Yes, the report describes a malicious deepfake video created to impersonate Steven Bartlett and promote a financial scam.

Directly caused: An AI-generated deepfake video of Steven Bartlett was created and circulated on Instagram to deceive users.

Inferred additional harm: The video likely reached thousands of Instagram users before being flagged and removed.

Privacy

Reported: Yes, the report notes that scammers try to glean contact details from victims who follow the link.

Indirectly caused: Scammers attempt to obtain personal contact details from users who click the link to join the WhatsApp group.

Inferred additional harm: It is likely that several users shared their contact details, compromising their privacy and making them targets for future scams.

Epistemic

Reported: Yes, the report describes the creation of a highly convincing fake video (deepfake) that misleads viewers into believing a celebrity is endorsing an investment.

Directly caused: The AI-generated video fabricated a scenario where Steven Bartlett appears to invite users to a WhatsApp trading group.

Inferred additional harm: Such deepfakes contribute to a general erosion of trust in online video content and celebrity communications.

People affected

• Occurrences reported: 1
• People reportedly harmed: 1
• People reportedly exposed: 1000

Potential causes

Management

• Insufficient Platform Action: Meta's efforts to crack down on celebrity scams are currently incomplete.

Technology

• Advanced Deepfake Technology: AI tools generate highly realistic video and audio of public figures.
• Inadequate Detection Tech: Platform detection systems fail to catch all sophisticated deepfakes.

Data Inputs

• Unauthorized Celebrity Media: Scammers use public video and audio of celebrities to train AI models.

Human Factors

• Cognitive Biases of Users: Scammers exploit user greed and fear of falling markets to lure victims.
• Trust in Celebrity Endorsements: Users trust familiar public figures, reducing their skepticism of the scam.

Process and Methods

• Inadequate Content Moderation: Platform review processes fail to block fake ads prior to publication.
• Slow Takedown Procedures: Delayed removal of reported scam accounts allows the fraud to spread.

Information quality

• Classification confidence: High
• Reason for confidence: The report clearly describes the nature of the incident (a deepfake scam on Instagram impersonating Steven Bartlett) and the mechanisms of the fraud. There is little ambiguity about the AI's role as a generative tool used for impersonation.
• Ambiguities identified: The exact AI model used to generate the deepfake is not identified, and the specific number of victims or financial losses resulting from this exact video is not quantified.
• Alternative interpretations: None. It is clearly a malicious impersonation scam.

A generative AI deepfake of entrepreneur Steven Bartlett was used on Instagram to promote a fraudulent investment group. The incident represents a common cybercrime and fraud issue rather than a national security threat, with minor implications for economic security and information integrity.

• Overall national security impact: Minor
• Scope: Single nation
• Primary target: United Kingdom
• Alleged perpetrator: Unknown

Threat characteristics

• Imminence: Long-term. Represents an ongoing strategic concern regarding generative AI fraud rather than an active national security crisis.
• Autonomy: Human-controlled. The AI was utilized as a tool by human scammers to generate content, with no autonomous decision-making or execution.
• Novelty: Established threat. Celebrity-impersonating deepfakes used for financial fraud are a well-established and frequently observed threat vector.

Impact by dimension

• Physical security: Negligible. No physical systems, critical infrastructure, or human safety elements were impacted or threatened by this financial scam.
• Information security: Minor. Involves AI-generated deepfake media, but the intent was financial fraud rather than state-sponsored information warfare or targeting of national security institutions.
• Sovereignty: Negligible. The incident did not target or impact government operations, elections, or state authority.
• Economic security: Minor. While investment scams pose a general economic threat to individuals, this specific incident does not threaten national financial systems or strategic technologies.
• Societal stability: Negligible. No evidence of mass surveillance, systematic discrimination, or threats to societal stability resulting from this localized scam.