Tracy Grimshaw lashes out at scammers who have been using her image in a fake Facebook ad promoting weight loss gummies
Tracy Grimshaw has condemned online scammers who used her voice and image in a fake advert promoting diet gummies.
The 63-year-old TV veteran took to Instagram on Wednesday to warn her fans and followers about the dodgy campaign appearing on social media platforms like Facebook.
Grimshaw included a screenshot of the fake video in her post, which features a computer-generated image of the former A Current Affair host holding a jar of “Keto gummies” and smiling.
The 'advertisement' also includes text in broken English allegedly 'quoting' Grimshaw, which reads: 'I'm going back on TV after losing 20 kilos.'
A furious Grimshaw said it was the second time in six months she had been targeted by scammers flogging an identical product.
Tracy Grimshaw has condemned online scammers who used her voice and image in a fake advert promoting diet gummies
The 63-year-old TV veteran took to Instagram on Wednesday to warn her fans and followers about the dodgy campaign appearing on social media platforms like Facebook.
Grimshaw included a screenshot of a fake video in her post, featuring a computer-generated image of the former A Current Affair host holding a jar of 'Keto gummies' and smiling
She also 'saluted' Australia's richest woman, Gina Rinehart, in her post, after the mining magnate wrote a scathing letter to Mark Zuckerberg over the issue of AI-generated scam ads on Facebook.
Grimshaw also thanked famed Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith for signing the Zuckerberg letter.
Smith and Rinehart and many other celebrities have fallen victim to AI-generated fake ads over the past five years.
'Let me say it again. **This is a scam*** I don't pass gummies,” Grimshaw said in her lengthy post.
'I don't have any sponsorship or advertising deals with anyone. Zero. So I don't throw anything. Ever.
“The online video on Instagram and FB where this screenshot comes from contains AI-generated images and a voiceover claiming to be me. It's fraud.
'Please don't get carried away by this. I commend the efforts of Gina Rinehart and Dick Smith, who are now using their considerable intellectual and financial influence to urge Mark Zuckerberg to step up and defraud this scam, which is defrauding millions of people around the world at a time of high inflation and economic hardship. to put a stop to it. .'
Former Sunrise presenter David Koch has also fallen victim to online scammers, as has current breakfast show host Natalie Barr.
Grimshaw, who retired from A Current Affair in November 2022, is known for keeping a low profile – this is the second time in six months the TV veteran has been targeted by scammers
Both have appeared in fake news stories related to cryptocurrency scams.
In 2018, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) warned viewers and added a list of Australian celebrities whose names and images have been used to endorse products in fake advertisements.
The list includes superstar Cate Blanchett, Nine's Deborah Knight, pop legend Delta Goodrem, former Studio 10 star Jessica Rowe and shock jock Kyle Sandilands.
Also listed as victims of scammers were former Project star Lisa Wilkinson, Hollywood legend Nicole Kidman and Logie winner Sonia Kruger.