'It was like I was brainwashed': 2 Ontarians lose $230K to separate AI-generated cryptocurrency ad scams

Two Ontarians collectively lost $230,000 after falling victim to separate AI-generated social media posts advertising fraudulent cryptocurrency investments.

Tak Gord Takasaki, of Brantford, Ont., said when he was on Facebook earlier this year, he saw an ad with billionaire Elon Musk who supposedly said he could make money fast by investing in cryptocurrencies.

"I wanted to invest and somebody phoned me and they set up the account," said Takasaki. "Elon Musk had an ad that said AI is going to change the world of investments and he had guys on there like Wayne Gretzky and (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau was on it lately."

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Criminals are using AI to manipulate videos to make it appear like celebrities and politicians are endorsing crypto investments, but the ads are fakes.

Takasaki started out by investing a small amount, but kept investing more money when it looked like his investments had quadrupled. When he tried to withdraw the funds, he said he couldn't take the money out.

"It goes out of the crypto wallet and then he told me he didn't receive it and that’s when I said, 'What's going on here?'" said Takasaki.

In the end, Takasaki was scammed out of $30,000.

Another victim from the Greater Toronto Area told CTV News Toronto that her family is completely unaware that she lost all her retirement funds to a similar scam.

"I saw an ad on Facebook and it was two famous celebrities talking about how you can make all this money on this app," Marion said. CTV News Toronto agreed to identify her by first name only.

Marion also started out by investing a small amount, but said she was excited to watch her investment of $200,000 grow to what appeared to be more than $500,000. Like Tasaki, however, when she wanted to withdraw, she said she couldn't.

"The scammer was so convincing that I was going to make way more investing with him than I could ever make with the banks, so I fell for it," said Marion.

In the end, Marion said she lost her life savings of $200,000.

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) launched an investigation into cryptocurrency fraud, called "Project Atlas," which uncovered 2,000 victims in Canada and more than a dozen other countries.

While some victims lost tens of thousands of dollars, Det.-Const. John Armitt with the OPP Anti-Rackets Division said one Toronto investor lost $10 million.

Armitt said victims were lured into investing after seeing fake ads.

"They see these advertisements to invest in cryptocurrency and they dump a lot of their money in or use lines of credit to fund these investments only to find out they lost their money," said Armitt. "With crypto, once the funds are gone, it's almost impossible to have them reversed."

Investors are encouraged to do their own research, not trust social media ads and invest carefully.

Takasaki said he borrowed the money on a line of credit. Not only is he paying interest each month, he still has to pay back his bank $30,000.

Marion says she is devastated that she lost all her money. She said she is behind on all of her bills and may have to sell her home.

"I just kept sending the money. It was like I was brainwashed and being controlled and manipulated and I just kept believing it and dreaming that I was going to have all this money," said Marion.

Many people who are scammed are contacted by groups that say they can recover their lost money for a fee, but it's just another scam and victims who fall for it are then defrauded twice.