Elderly couple travel three hours for attraction that doesn't exist

Metro

17 hours ago

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An elderly couple were duped by an AI-generated video, driving three hours in hopes of visiting a fake tourist spot.
The couple, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, saw a video advertising 'Kuak Skyride', a fake cable car ride with nearby restaurants.
The video showed what appeared to be a female journalist interviewing attendees and boasting about the new attraction.
But not all was as it seemed.
The entire thing was created with AI, and the couple weren't made aware of that until they arrived at a hotel in Perak and asked staff about it.
After hearing that no such place existed, the infuriated woman threatened to sue the journalist in the video, before being told she was also not real.
A hotel staff member posted about the couple's experience on social media to warn other families not to fall for the hoax.
The fake attraction was advertised on the TV channel 'TV Rakyat', which also doesn't exist, showing beautiful scenes in the forest.
The elderly woman reportedly asked the hotel staff: 'Why do they do this to people?'
They weren't the only ones to fall for the fake video. Another person claimed their parents paid around £2,000 to rent a van and drive to the attraction before realising it wasn't real.
It's the latest trick using AI to scam unwitting people into going places and spending money when they shouldn't.
Earlier this year, Martin Lewis issued a warning after some families lost money in a scheme which used his likeness to trick them out of £76,000.
Des Healey, a kitchen fitter from Brighton, was tricked into handing over his life savings to a bogus bitcoin investment scheme that did not really exist.
He first became aware of the scam in August 2023, after spotting a fake ad on Facebook which used an AI-generated video of Martin Lewis who appeared to be endorsing an investment scheme by Elon Musk.
Sharing his story on Good Morning Britain, Des explained how he had been tricked by the fake video. 'If you listen to the voice and look at how the mouth moves, that normally gives it away.'
'But at the time, obviously, I wasn't studying that. I just got Martin Lewis saying that normally he doesn't cover these [investments] but this time, this is such a good thing.' More Trending
He added: 'Now I feel how stupid I was, how blind I was. You know, I'm normally the type of person who would tell other people that doesn't sound right, but these people… Someone once described it as being under their spell, and I think that was probably the best term that he could have possibly said. I knew, in a way, something wasn't right, but I hoped that it was okay.'
Responding to the story, Martin Lewis said Des was 'brave and admirable' for speaking out and telling his story as 'a warning flag' for others.
'I've spent my entire career trying to help consumers, and these criminals, thieves, organised crime people have perverted my reputation,' he told Des on his BBC Sounds podcast.
He said scammers are 'psychologically adept at manipulating us, use huge online and intellectual resources in order to steal our money… falling for scams does not make you a mug – it makes you a victim, but it doesn't make you a mug'.
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