Scammer uses Lewis Hamilton's name to steal money from F1 fans

A scammer has posed as Lewis Hamilton in an attempt to steal money from a fan of the Formula One driver. Using a fake profile and AI, he managed to convince the Brazilian woman that he was the real Hamilton.

Fake 'Lewis Hamilton' involved in an attempted scam

A woman from Sao Paulo almost fell for the scam. She is a big Hamilton fan and sent a message to his Instagram page but did not realise it was a fake profile. The person with the fake profile eagerly accepted the contact attempt, leaving the woman to think he was the Mercedes driver. This reports the Brazilian Metropoles.

Still, the woman was sceptical. She asked 'Lewis' to make a video, but she did not get it with the excuse that he is a "public person. " He did send an audio recording in which Hamilton's voice could be heard, but it was probably created by artificial intelligence.

The owner of the fake profile also created an agency, supposedly based in Rio de Janeiro, where she could buy a 'fan card' for $1,500. The woman became suspicious and went to a newspaper, which referred the matter to an expert. The latter confirmed that it was a fake profile and that the audio recording had probably been made with AI.

One detail the woman had overlooked was the difference in the number of followers on both profiles. The real Hamilton has almost 36 million followers on Instagram and has posted more than 1,400 messages there, while the fake account had only 1,400 (possibly bought) followers and had not posted any pictures.