Don’t click here: Adverts on Facebook, purporting to feature well-known people such as Elon Musk, Johann Rupert and Leanne Manas direct users to Banxso and Afrimarkets.
Deepfake adverts directing investors to Banxso and its online trading platforms, where people claim they have collectively lost millions of rand, are also directing users to Afrimarkets, a company with which it shares two directors.
This emerged over the past week when the Mail & Guardian ran a test on the deepfake adverts that appear on Facebook, purporting to feature prominent business people and media personalities, including Elon Musk, Johann Rupert and SABC anchor Leanne Manas.
A new advert uses the image of Democratic Alliance federal council chairperson Helen Zille.
The adverts promise excellent returns on a minimum start-up investment of R4 800 and claim to be part of a scheme that personalities such as Musk and Rupert have set up to help poor South Africans to make money.
Facebook parent company Meta said this week that it has “taken action” against the adverts which violate its “scams policies”.
Some of them have been shared more than 250 000 times on the social media platform and posts below them include comments from many people who appear desperate to sign up.
But Banxso has denied any links to or association with Immediate Matrix, the company behind some of the adverts which direct users to its trading platforms.
The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) issued a warning about deepfake adverts generated by Immediate Matrix in December.
Last week, it announced that it was investigating Banxso “for possible contraventions of financial sector laws” after several complaints about its conduct. It said Banxso was co-operating fully with the inquiry.
The watchdog told the M&G on Thursday that it was opening a preliminary investigation into Afrimarkets, which shares two directors with Banxso, after receiving reports that users were being directed to its platforms via similar deepfake adverts.
Investors, including Darron Tarr and Johan Jooste, as well as others who have asked to remain anonymous, earlier claimed they had clicked on the deepfake adverts and had received texts and phone calls from Banxso’s “onboarding” consultants.
They invested their savings, ranging from about R35 000 to more than R900 000, in Banxso’s online trading platforms and lost all their money within days or weeks.
At least 30 people have claimed to have lost money on the platforms.
When the M&G clicked on an advert featuring Manas and Rupert on 19 April, a page opened with a form asking for contact details including a name, email address and cellphone number.
Within minutes, an SMS and client welcome email from Banxso followed, with a login-in button to enter the platform site and begin trading online.
The following, day the cell phone calls from Banxso started, culminating in a conversation this week during which “Cynthia”, who described herself as an “onboarding” agent, confirmed that she was calling from Banxso in response to the form filled out through the Rupert advert.
Forensic investigator Bart Henderson, who has been looking into the Banxso matter, said he had clicked on a similar deepfake advert link featuring Rupert and Manas, and that it had taken him to an Afrimarkets trading platform which appeared similar to Banxso.
He had then received client welcoming emails from Afrimarkets inviting him to log in to the trading platform.
A Companies and Intellectual Property Commission search shows that the two companies the deepfake adverts draw users to, Banxso and Afrimarkets, registered as Afrimarkets Capital, share directors, Harel Sekler and Warwick Sneider.
Afrimarkets Capital is registered with the FSCA as a financial services provider (FSP).
Banxso chief executive Manuel de Andrade this week again reiterated that there is “no connection” between the adverts and the company, which he says “advocates for fair trading” and invests “heavily in responsible digital marketing”.
“Banxso has no connection or involvement in any deepfake ads that may exist on the internet.
“Banxso actively monitors our marketing profile, along with stringent internal vetting and sign-off procedures, to ensure that all our marketing is compliant with all regulatory requirements and marketing codes,” he said.
“Considering our track record and our commitment to our customers, and given the regulated environment in which we operate, there simply is no way that we would ever consider a future relationship with any organisation that makes use of deepfake ads, such as you describe.
“It is important for any member of the public to be informed and aware of the many unscrupulous parties who are looking for clever and sophisticated ways in which to defraud people and gain access to their funds,” De Andrade added.
On the relationship between Banxso and Afrimarkets Capital and the deepfake ads, De Andrade said Afrimarkets “currently in its beta phase, shares ownership with Banxso Pty Ltd”.
“This new venture is designed with the aim of pioneering transparent and innovative financial solutions.
“The mention of Afrimarkets in the context of the concerning advertising tactics that involve deepfakes is indeed alarming and warrants a thorough investigation,” De Andrade emphasised.
“We understand from your correspondence that there appears to be a link between these deceptive adverts and the redirection of users to Afrimarkets.
“It is important to clarify that Afrimarkets and Banxso operate independently in terms of their day-to-day operations, despite the common ownership structure.”
He said the “disturbing” use of deepfake technology in adverts was an issue Banxso had previously investigated and affirmed there was “no association or endorsement of such practices”.
“However, the repeated occurrence of such incidents suggests a targeted campaign by external entities,” De Andrade said.
The company had taken “immediate and decisive action” and was “thoroughly investigating” the matter, he said.
“Afrimarkets has halted all external traffic to our platform to prevent any exploitation by these malicious activities. This is a precaution we are able to implement swiftly at Afrimarkets, a flexibility that the larger scale of Banxso does not allow.”
The measure “will remain in place until we can guarantee the security and integrity of our traffic, ensuring that neither our users nor our platforms are compromised”, he added.
The FSCA said it had not received any complaints regarding Afrimarkets, but it had launched a preliminary investigation into the company.
“Because we have now received a few press enquiries regarding the entity, and the fact that the entity has common directors to Banxso (which we are investigating), we will register a preliminary investigation,” the authority said.
“The investigator will focus on whether Afrimarkets might be involved in activities similar to what has been reported about Banxso. It is also worthwhile noting that Afrimarkets Capital is an FSP.”
The SABC’s acting group executive for corporate affairs and marketing, Mmoni Seapolelo, said the public broadcaster reserved its right to take legal action against the company behind the adverts using Manas.
“The SABC can confirm that all the affected employees’ rights are reserved and the possibility of future legal actions cannot be ruled out,” Seapolelo said.
Alerted to the presence of the myriad deepfake adverts this week, a spokesperson for Meta said Facebook had reviewed the adverts and “action” had been taken.
“We took action on the content and pages that violated our scams policies,” he said.
Meta’s policy allows the platform to remove manipulated content, such as “videos that have been edited or synthesised, beyond adjustments for clarity or quality in ways that are not apparent to an average person, and would likely mislead an average person”.
It also bans videos where artificial intelligence or machine learning has been used to create footage that appears authentic.
In addition, warning generally about scams, its policy on its website states that it is an “unacceptable business practice” to run adverts “that use public figures in a deceptive nature in order to try to scam people out of money”.
“Scammers use every avenue available to them to defraud people and constantly adapt to evade enforcement.
“Content, including ads, that purposefully intends to deceive or exploit others for money violates our policies and we remove it when it’s found,” the spokesman said.
“We continue to invest in detection technology and share information with law enforcement so they can prosecute scammers.”