I was scammed out of hundreds by ‘Jennifer Aniston' who told me she loved me & needed cash for her ‘Apple subscriptions'
Paul Davis, 43, from Southampton, handed over the money after believing he was talking to the Friends star on Facebook.
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Scam victim Paul Davis has revealed he lost hundreds of pounds
Credit: Solent
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Paul fell for a computer generated video of Jennifer Aniston and handed over £200
Credit: Solent
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He believed he was talking to the Friends star
Credit: Solent
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Paul was sent what looked like Jennifer Aniston's driving licence, before she told him she 'loves him' and asked for money
Credit: Solent
Paul says he was targeted by an army of AI scammers pretending to be A-list stars - including the Friends legend herself - in a bizarre new wave of deepfake fraud.
The unemployed Brit, who battles depression, revealed how he was bombarded with dozens of eerily convincing videos from bogus celebrity accounts.
Some fraudulently posed as tech titans Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk.
But it was a phoney Aniston who finally fooled him after sending what looked like her driving licence.
Read More in UK News
The fraudster also told Paul she 'loved him' before asking for money.
Paul said: 'I've had fake videos from Jennifer Aniston saying she loves me and asking for £200. I believed it – and I paid.'
The cruel scam saw him send £200 worth of non-refundable Apple gift cards to the supposed Hollywood sweetheart.
'I got bitten,' he added. 'Once bitten, twice shy.'
Most read in The Sun
The shocking con is part of a terrifying rise in AI-powered scams, with crooks creating scarily real deepfake clips of celebs to trick unsuspecting victims out of their cash and private info.
Paul says he's been relentlessly harassed for months, receiving fake messages every day claiming he's won everything from mega cash prizes to a flashy Range Rover.
My mum's being scammed by an AI deepfake of 'Owen Wilson' who paid her £7 to 'prove' his identity - would you fall for it?
One video even showed a fake Zuckerberg declaring: 'This is not a scam - believe me' while flashing a dodgy ID.
Another sent him a bogus 'certificate from Facebook' claiming he'd scooped £500k and a luxury motor.
'They make it look so real,' Paul said.
'It's been going on for five months. I thought someone would get in trouble for this, but they seem to be having a laugh – and getting away with it.'
Worryingly, Paul says he's not the only one falling victim.
He revealed: 'Someone I know's lost over a grand in Apple gift cards to these scams."
Now, struggling with his mental health and unable to work, Paul says the constant barrage of cons is taking its toll.
Paul said: 'I can't keep taking that sort of hit. They're asking for bank details, credit card info - everything.'
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Messages between Paul and the fake Jennifer Aniston
Credit: Solent
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He also received scam messages from someone posting of Tesla owner Elon Musk
Credit: Solent
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Facebook creator and tech whiz Mark Zuckerberg is also used by scammers
Credit: Solent
The 43-year-old says he is sharing his story in a bid to warn others and stop the scammers in their tracks.
It comes after a scammer who
Interior designer Anne, 53, was scammed into funding a fake cancer treatment for the star after receiving AI-generated selfies and sweet-talking texts.
The cruel romance con lasted over a year, costing Anne her fortune, her marriage, and her mental health.
Eventually a crack team discovered the scammer's identity, his Nigerian base, and 34 other victims.
Meanwhile, another woman put out a call for help after noticing her mum
The unnamed woman took to Reddit, revealing both she and her sister had failed to convince her mum that the man she was chatting to was not the real actor.
She decided to share the
What are deepfakes?
Here's what you need to know...
Deepfakes use artificial intelligence and machine learning to produce face-swapped videos with barely any effort
They can be used to create realistic videos that make celebrities appear as though they're saying something they didn't
Deepfakes have also been used by sickos to make fake porn videos that feature the faces of celebrities or ex-lovers
To create the videos, users first track down an XXX clip featuring a porn star that looks like an actress
They then feed an app with hundreds – and sometimes thousands – of photos of the victim's face
A machine learning algorithm swaps out the faces frame-by-frame until it spits out a realistic, but fake, video
To help other users create these videos, pervs upload "facesets", which are huge computer folders filled with a celebrity's face that can be easily fed through the "deepfakes" app
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