Quantum AI and the Elon Musk Deepfake Scam
Fake AI trading bots and a strange Czech 3D printing site
An in-depth look at the Quantum AI and the Elon Musk deepfake scam
Fake AI trading bots, compliments from scammers and a strange Czech 3D printing site
At the start of May, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission put out a warning against Quantum AI.
Quantum AI claims to provide cryptocurrency trading services with its underlying artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The SFC suspects that Quantum AI uses AI-generated deepfake videos and photos of Mr Elon Musk on its website and through social media to deceive the public that Mr Musk is the developer of Quantum AI’s underlying technology.
It’s the second time I've heard the name Quantum AI come up. It previously appeared in a similar context in a Facebook post put out by former Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, a favourite target of deepfake scammers.
He warned against a Quantum AI group that was using his image to promote their investment platform.
But what exactly is it?
Take a look on Facebook and you’ll find dozens of groups — some with thousands of members — each with “Quantum AI” in the name. Many also include Elon Musk’s name or pictures of him.
“Hillary”
I joined several groups. Shortly after doing so, admins started to reach out to me. One of them was “Hillary Peterson”.
At first glance, her profile might have looked genuine. She updated her profile regularly with the sort of pictures you might expect to see on a social media profile — and they were of the same person.
But she was using stolen pictures. By reverse image searching, I was able to discover it had been taken from the Instagram page of an American lawyer. “Hillary” took multiple posts from this account and published them as her own in order to make her Facebook account look more genuine.
She then directed me to the site and asked me to set up an account, which I did. She also asked me how much money I wanted to invest. However, when I signed up it said I needed to be approved by an admin in order to start trading.
When I asked Hillary, she said I’d need to send money to a bank account. She asked where I lived and then sent me the bank details of a Hong Kong bank account. I asked who it belonged to and she told me it was a local partner.
I was able to obtain two different account details in the course of our interaction. When I tried to get one more, she stopped replying and deleted all the messages she had sent me.
Fake investment websites
Searching Quantum AI into Google will also yield dozens of investment websites (none of which are the one the Hong Kong SFC warned against).
One website in particular caught my eye because unlike earlier iterations of the Quantum AI/Elon Musk scam, it doesn’t claim an association with Elon Musk.
In fact, it has an entire page on its site “to clarify any confusion surrounding the Quantum AI trading software and its alleged association with Elon Musk”.
“To be clear: Elon Musk has no ties to Quantum AI’s trading software, Quantum AI Ltd, the Quantum AI app, the Quantum AI platform, the Quantum AI robot, or any of their services,” it says.
Scammers are nothing if not quick to adapt.
While most of these sites look like you can just sign up and invest, the websites aren’t that sophisticated. After putting in your details, you receive a phone call.
Signing up for the aforementioned platform resulted in a call seconds later from a Singaporean number. The person at the other end was male, possibly with a South London accent. He asked about what I did for a living, how many hours I worked a week, and if I was free evenings and weekends.
There was also an attempt at flattery. I told him I worked in market research and he feigned interest. He also told me my English was very good compared to the usual people he talks to (it’s my native language).
He rattled off some random buzzwords about trading before recommending to me their minimum package which cost 260 EUR. He asked if I was working from a laptop or mobile.
He told me payments would be made via credit or debit card and referred me to an email sent by the company.
That email directed me to a website for a Czech 3D printing plan shop called Alfa Monkey. Using a second site to take payments is a typical method of transaction laundering.
Alfa Monkey has been used to pay into several different scams, according to reviews on Trustpilot.
Alfa Monkey has responded to claims like these on Trustpilot by saying that there has been a “misunderstanding or miscommunication” and that they are not related to any of these entities.
However, the email I received directed me to a site with the exact same URL.
Its Trustpilot response and the website where the scammers wanted me to pay money also have the same contact details.
It did not respond to a request for comment.
You are more likely to be scammed in Hong Kong than be the victim of any other crime.
Last year, deception cases rose by 42.6% in the city to almost 40,000 cases and losses of HK$9 billion. Almost half of all reported crimes (44%) relate to fraud and scams.
Hong Kong isn’t alone. The situation here mirrors other places around the world. The US lost HK$78 billion to fraud last year. The UK lost HK$23 billion. Singapore lost HK$3.8 billion.
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