Purported Deepfake of Brian May Allegedly Exploited in Scam Offering Fake Queen Backstage Tickets

Scammers allegedly created an AI-generated deepfake of Queen guitarist Brian May, reportedly posting a video on TikTok in which the fake May offers backstage tickets to a Queen concert. The real Brian May reportedly warned fans about this "disgusting" scam, emphasizing that Queen has no tour dates planned and does not sell backstage access.

Risk classification

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

The incident involves scammers using an AI-generated deepfake of a celebrity to impersonate him and execute a financial ticket scam targeting his fans.

Causal factors

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

The incident was caused by human scammers who intentionally deployed a deepfake video to defraud fans after the AI model was trained and released.

EU AI Act risk tier

• Risk tier: 3 Limited Risk

Risk Level 3. Limited Risk: The report describes an AI-generated deepfake, which falls under limited risk due to transparency obligations for synthetic content.

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, Unknown scammer impersonating Brian May, Unknown deepfake creator
• Alleged harmed parties: Truth, TikTok users, Queen (band) fans, General public of the United Kingdom, General public, Epistemic integrity, Brian May fans

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 Negligible
• 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 scam users.

Directly caused: A deepfake video of Brian May was created and posted on TikTok to deceive fans into paying 800 dollars for fake backstage tickets.

Inferred additional harm: The video was likely viewed by thousands of TikTok users before being flagged or removed.

Epistemic

Reported: Yes, the report describes the creation of a deepfake video that fabricated statements by Brian May.

Directly caused: The AI deepfake generated a realistic video and voice of Brian May falsely claiming that backstage tickets were available for 800 dollars.

Inferred additional harm: The deepfake contributes to the erosion of trust in online media and video evidence of public figures.

People affected

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

Potential causes

Management

• Reactive Platform Policies: Social media platforms rely on user reports rather than proactive prevention.

Technology

• Advanced Deepfake Technology: AI tools enable realistic voice and video replication of public figures.
• Robotic Voice Synthesis: Text-to-speech AI generated synthetic voice mimicking the artist.

Data Inputs

• Publicly Available Media: Scammers used public video and audio of the artist to generate the deepfake.

Human Factors

• Trust in Celebrity Likeness: Fans are easily deceived by realistic video and voice of trusted celebrities.

Process and Methods

• Inadequate Content Moderation: TikTok failed to detect and block the deepfake video before it reached fans.
• Lack of Video Verification: No automated checks to verify authenticity of celebrity likeness in uploads.

Regulatory Environment

• Weak Deepfake Regulation: Lack of strict legal frameworks surrounding AI-generated impersonation.

Information quality

• Classification confidence: High
• Reason for confidence: The report clearly describes the nature of the incident (a deepfake ticket scam on TikTok) and the reaction of the affected public figure. There is no ambiguity about the AI's role as a generator of synthetic media used for fraud.

Scammers used an AI-generated deepfake of Queen guitarist Brian May on TikTok to conduct a fraudulent ticket scam. While demonstrating the ongoing risks of synthetic media in cybercrime, the incident is a localized financial fraud with negligible implications for national security.

• Overall national security impact: Negligible
• Scope: Unknown
• Primary target: No clear primary
• Other affected: Unknown
• Alleged perpetrator: Unknown

Threat characteristics

• Imminence: Long-term. The incident represents a common cybercrime tactic rather than an imminent national security crisis requiring state-level intervention.
• Autonomy: Human-controlled. The deepfake was generated as a tool by human scammers who manually set up the TikTok account and directed the fraudulent campaign.
• Novelty: Established threat. Using AI-generated deepfakes of celebrities for financial fraud and ticket scams is an established threat method with numerous historical precedents.

Impact by dimension

• Physical security: Negligible. The incident involves a commercial ticket scam targeting music fans and poses no threat to physical systems, critical infrastructure, or human safety.
• Information security: Negligible. While the incident utilizes deepfake technology, it is a localized financial fraud attempt rather than a state-sponsored information warfare campaign or intelligence compromise.
• Sovereignty: Negligible. There is no impact on state authority, government decision-making, electoral systems, or core constitutional processes.
• Economic security: Negligible. The financial impact is limited to individual fans targeted by an 800 dollar ticket scam, posing no threat to national economic stability or strategic industries.
• Societal stability: Negligible. The incident does not involve mass surveillance, systematic discrimination, or threats to societal cohesion at a national scale.