Cape Town - Fake messages, emails, photos and videos are getting better at tricking people every day, which is making it riskier to operate online, and more difficult to identify misinformation.
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi is the latest high-profile South African to be targeted in an international scam to sell a fake weight-loss product to gullible people via various social media streams.
The campaign, which has been going on for months, also uses the name and image of South African exercise and diet expert Professor Tim Noakes, and he and Motsoaledi say it is a scam.
Minister Motsoaledi’s image, taken in a screenshot from an appearance on eNCA, with a fake news ticker scrolling underneath reading, “SA-born citizens can order online”, was placed above a distorted picture of Noakes recommending that a teaspoonful of the unnamed product will help users lose 19kg.
Reached for comment, Motsoaledi said through a spokesperson: “Dr Aaron Motsoaledi is in no way associated with this campaign. He distances himself from it.
“This post uses his face without his authorisation. This unauthorised use of his picture violates the dignity of the Minister and Popi Act.”
The Department of Home Affairs later used the screenshot the Cape Argus sent it of the advert in a Tweet and labelled it “Fake News”.
Professor Noakes said: “It is a dreadful scam that has been going on for years and which we are quite unable to stop, despite trying all possible avenues.
Cyber security expert Anna Collard, who is senior-vice president content strategy at KnowBe4, a security awareness training and simulated phishing platform with offices in Cape Town, said considering how deep fake technology used both machine learning and AI to manipulate data and imagery using real-world images and information, it was easy to see how people were tricked.
“These deep fake platforms are capable of creating civil and societal unrest when used to spread misinformation or dis-information in political and election campaigns, and remain a dangerous element in modern digital society.
“This is cause for concern and asks for more awareness and understanding among the public and policymakers.”
Collard said the problem was that deep fake technology had become so sophisticated that most people would find it challenging to spot a fake.
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za