Ontario senior bilked out of $900K after falling victim to crypto scam that used AI deepfake of PM Carney

The fraud involves criminals making 'deepfake' videos that appear to be investment endorsements by celebrities and politicians. Pat Foran reports.

An Ontario woman is sharing her story after she invested over $900,000 in a cryptocurrency platform that turned out to be fake.

It was in the summer of 2025 when 86-year-old Judy Skene of Sault St. Marie, Ont., came across a deepfake video of Prime Minister Mark Carney promoting a crypto investment platform.

At the time, Skene clicked the link, signed up, and made an initial investment.

“I saw an ad on Facebook of Mark Carney telling me if I invested $350 Canadian, it would be backed by the Bank of Canada,” Skene said.

Following the initial investment, she received a phone call from someone claiming it had already tripled in value. Over the next few months, she invested everything she had, even taking out a mortgage on her condo.

“So I agreed to put a mortgage of $300,000 on my condominium,” Skene told CTV News.

In a fake investment account it appeared her money had almost doubled, but in reality, she was defrauded of $900,000.

“Once I did the final payment, there was no more conversation and all my money was gone,” said Skene.

When Pat Probert learned of what happened to Skene, he stepped in to help his friend while she was in a very distraught situation. It came to a point where Skene felt like taking her own life.

“Her condo fees were bouncing, the insurance payments on her condo and her car were bouncing,” Probert said.

He told CTV News he also wants to warn others about investment fraud.

“If you know a senior that’s alone, reach out to them make sure someone is on a bank account as their emergency contact,” Probert said.

Investment frauds have been around for a long time, but with artificial intelligence getting better, it’s hard to tell which videos are real and which ones are fake.

The ‘deepfake’ videos that appear on social media are usually showing endorsements by celebrities and politicians, including Carney and former prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Social media companies should be held accountable: expert

“These scams are on every different type of platform,” said AI expert and media consultant Mohit Rajhans of Think Start Inc.

He said he feels companies allowing the posting of deepfake and scam videos should be held accountable.

“Let’s remember they are making money off of these scams. These ads are running on social media platforms; this is a revenue stream for these apps,” said Rajhans.

As for Skene, she told CTV News that clicking on that one ad changed her life forever, and she wants to prevent others from falling victim to this type of fraud.

“Just be alert and be careful with what you see on Facebook,” Skene said.

As for Probert, he told CTV News he’s happy Skene is still here and hopes that by her sharing her story, it will help save another person or senior from a scam.

Probert has also created a GoFundMe page in hopes of helping Skene stay afloat for the next few years.

“Judy wanted to leave money to different charities, as she has no kids or relatives and was an only child,” said Probert.

“Judy was not doing this for greed; she was doing it to help others now she is the one needing help.”

With files from Farah Chandani