Famous KOL Impersonated by AI in $4 Million Scam

In a post on April 23, Melker revealed that a private investigator informed him his image and identity were being used by a scam group to deceive people, with one victim losing as much as $4 million. “I’m truly exhausted by all of this,” he said.

Melker explained that a group of scammers from Nigeria had fabricated fake identification documents, including a driver’s license bearing his Twitter (X) avatar, to gain victims’ trust. They even used artificial intelligence (AI) to create realistic-looking video calls, convincing enough to make victims believe they were speaking directly with him.

The scammers went further by faking social media accounts of Melker’s wife and children to strengthen the illusion and confirm the false identity.

The technical analysis group “TheChartGuys” reported a similar case where a person was scammed out of $5,000 after AI deepfake technology was used to clone their voice.

Despite the sophistication of these scams, crypto advisor “Nebraskan Gooner” said the fake ID could easily be debunked with a quick Google search. He pointed out several minor inconsistencies in the formatting of the address and date. Nevertheless, he expressed concern that these scams are becoming increasingly advanced, though he was “surprised at how poorly executed the ID was, given how professional the operation appears.”

AI-driven scams are surging as the technology continues to evolve. In March, the California Department of Justice warned about seven new types of AI-related crypto scams. Earlier, in February, Chainalysis predicted that 2025 would see a major rise in AI-powered scams, explaining that generative AI is making fraud “more scalable and affordable for bad actors.”

A recent report by tech giant Microsoft echoed these concerns, stating that bad actors are using AI to “supercharge their scams.” According to the report, AI tools can scour the web for corporate data, allowing cybercriminals to build detailed profiles of employees or targets to craft highly convincing social engineering traps.

“I imagine this is going to get exponentially worse,” Melker concluded with concern.