Deepfake Political Scams on Meta: $49 Million Spent on Fake Government Benefit Ads Targeting Seniors

Advertisers seeking to run political advertisements on Meta's platforms in the United States must undergo a specialized authorization process to verify their identity.

According to a watchdog organization's report released Wednesday, scammers have become prominent political advertisers on Meta platforms, utilizing deepfake videos featuring American politicians—including former President Donald Trump—to promote fraudulent government benefits.

The nonprofit Tech Transparency Project (TTP) has identified 63 fraudulent advertisers who collectively invested $49 million in advertisements on Facebook and Instagram. These ads predominantly target senior citizens with false promises of stimulus checks, government spending cards, and healthcare payments.

These deceptive advertisements have reportedly reached tens of thousands of users across Meta's platforms.

"The findings reveal how scammers are exploiting advances in artificial intelligence technology, public confusion about social safety net programs, and inadequate content moderation by Meta to find new victims," stated the TTP report.

"Meta is permitting this activity despite prohibiting scams and claiming to invest in scam prevention measures to protect users," the report added.

Meta did not provide an immediate response when contacted for comment.

The TTP report quoted a statement from Meta indicating that the company would "invest in building new technical defenses" as scammers "constantly evolve their tactics to try to evade detection."

Meta's policies require that advertisers wishing to run political advertisements in the United States complete a special authorization process, which includes submitting official identification such as a driver's license along with a valid U.S. mailing address.

TTP reported that all 63 scam advertisers—responsible for over 150,600 political advertisements—had their ads removed by Meta within the past 12 months for policy violations. Nevertheless, nearly half of these advertisers were still active on the platform as of Tuesday.

Meta appears to have disabled 35 advertising accounts, but only after they had published dozens—and in some cases hundreds—of advertisements. Six of these accounts spent over $1 million before being disabled or deleted, according to the report.

One advertiser identified by TTP—named the Relief Eligibility Center—ran an advertisement on Meta platforms during April and May featuring a deepfake video of Trump falsely promising stimulus checks to Americans.

The video appeared to match a speech Trump delivered in the White House Rose Garden in early April, but TTP discovered that the words in the advertisement did not correspond with the official transcript of the event.

The advertisement, which directed users to a website promising a "FREE $5,000 Check from Trump," appeared to target men and women over 65 years of age across more than 20 U.S. states, according to TTP.

Professional fact-checkers have been warning about fraudulent stimulus check offers circulating on social media platforms for years.

These latest findings highlight the proliferation of online fraud, with surveys indicating a growing number of American adults experiencing internet scams or impersonation attacks.

In August, the Federal Trade Commission reported that complaints from older adults who lost $10,000 or more—sometimes their entire life savings—to scammers impersonating trusted government agencies or businesses had increased more than four-fold since 2020.