No, CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, actor Steve Martin, and tech guru Bill Gates are not selling a manuka honey supplement to cure Alzheimer’s. Yet seniors across the country who have come across AI scams and “deepfake” videos featuring the celebrities’ likenesses have shelled out cash for the snake oil the videos promote. In turn, scammers are profiting.
States like Michigan have worked to protect vulnerable populations by creating an Elder Abuse Task Force in 2019 and issuing repeated warnings to consumers—including messages specifically about celebrity deepfakes, which are videos and images generated by AI to falsely impersonate people or organizations. But tech experts say social media platforms, such as Meta-owned Facebook, play a significant role in perpetuating these scams, even with protective efforts from lawmakers.
“Whoever is behind the scam, whether it’s somebody in Vietnam or somebody in Alabama, they cannot execute that scam without Meta reviewing, approving, and collecting money from the ads they are running,” said Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project.
Michigan seniors reported nearly $170 million in losses to cybercrime last year, according to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2025 internet crime report. 2025was the first year the agency began tracking AI scams in particular, with the most complaints nationally for those ages 60 and older stemming from phishing or spoofing scams and cryptocurrency schemes.
Yet these scams are underreported by seniors, many of whom are embarrassed to admit they’ve been scammed, are unaware of the con, or fear losing their independence.
As national advocates work to hold Big Tech companies to account for their roles, Michigan agencies and politicians are working to alert seniors and help them recover.
“They should know what’s behind the tools that they’re using,” Paul said. “Companies have been opaque about that, so we try to shine the light on it, so people have the best possible information they can and actually know what they’re getting into on these platforms.”
AI makes scams harder to spot
As AI technology advances, deepfake videos featuring ordinary people and politicians alike are becoming increasingly difficult to spot, even for younger internet users. But seniors in particular are falling for them.
“There’s just a broader, lower level of digital literacy when it comes to seniors, and I think that is certainly contributing to the types of content that they’re susceptible to when it comes to the deepfake content,” said Paul.
When it comes to scams, Paul said deepfake videos are appearing as ads on Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms, directing users to fake sites.
Paul said scams designed for seniors often connect them to chatbots that ask questions about pertinent topics like Medicare, then inform the user that they’re eligible for a limited-time offer if they call the provided phone number. Seniors call and speak with a live human (also part of the scam) who then collects their information.
“There have been several reports that seniors, in particular, are more likely to trust somebody on the phone that they think is a real person, as opposed to inputting credit card stuff online,” Paul said.
Big Tech profits off scams
Paul said Meta is the largest platform benefiting from these scams. Meta has teams dedicated to reviewing ads for deepfake footage and nefarious links, but thousands slip through those review safeguards daily. And while Meta claims it’s dedicated to removing and preventing them, Paul pointed out that the company generates a sizable portion of its ad revenue from these fake ads.
“Internal documents leaked from Meta employees found that 10% of all of Meta’s advertising revenue is scams, and the company is aware of that,” she said.
In an attempt to make its procedures more transparent, Meta launched a publicly accessible ad library that allows users to search for and review ads that appeared on its platforms over the past 30 days. While that’s a good step, Paul said it doesn’t stop Meta from allowing these scam ads to come through and generate payment before they’re identified and removed.
“There’s a lot of things that these companies, including Meta, have policies for on paper and say they don’t allow,” Paul said. “But time and again, whether it’s scam ads, we found hundreds of ads trafficking drugs and opioids, trafficking weapons, child sex abuse material.”
But knowing this is happening hasn’t prevented it, and lawmakers have yet to find a solution.
“There are currently no repercussions for these companies when it comes to content that is fraud or illegal or harmful, and they’re just profiting in the process while knowing they are, you know, expanding these harms,” Paul added.
At the federal level, representatives introduced the SCAM Act in February, aiming to increase penalties for social media platforms that fail to police scam ads. It has not yet been voted on. Other laws have focused on strengthening federal agencies’ ability to investigate scams and make victims whole, yet Big Tech companies continue to benefit. The Stop Scams Against Seniors Act was also introduced in Congress last year to establish an elder-scams task force.
Michigan works to protect seniors
During Money Smart Week in April, a nationally designated week aimed at helping consumers improve financial literacy, Attorney General Dana Nessel warned Michiganders about the prevalence of deepfakes in scam advertising and reminded residents how to report scams.
“AI scams are incredibly sophisticated,” Nessel wrote in her release. “They can trick any of us into handing money over to bad actors. If you receive a call from a loved one and something feels off, trust your instinct. Always verify the situation using a known, trusted number.”
Nessel created the state’s Elder Abuse Task Force in 2019, aimed at improving the state’s approach to finding and stopping cases of abuse against seniors, including financial scams. In addition to deepfake videos like the ones imitating celebrities, Nessel has also warned of AI deepfakes for grandparent scams and the use of AI to perpetuate robocall scams. The Federal Communications Commission outlawed the use of AI-generated voices in these calls in 2024, but enforcement is nearly impossible.
The state passed a deepfakes law in 2025, enacting penalties for those who create sexually intimate deepfakes of real people. The law doesn’t specifically pertain to the kinds of widespread scams typically described online, but it does demonstrate an increasing awareness of the dangers posed by this technology.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been featured in several deepfake videos this year as the 2026 gubernatorial race heats up. One June ad from then-Republican gubernatorial candidate Aric Nesbitt appeared to show him running her over with a tractor, with the caption “Justice is coming.” The state passed a law in 2023 requiring disclosure of AI use in campaign ads, joining several other states, and Nesbitt’s ad included the required label.
In the meantime, organizations such as the Crime Victims Legal Assistance Project work with victims to help recoup their losses. Emily Miller is a Managing Attorney for the Michigan Advocacy Program in Ypsilanti. Miller said that a change in federal funding this year has shifted the elder abuse caseload away from her office. While she doesn’t work with elder abuse cases currently, she has years of experience in the field.
Whether the scam is classified as AI, phishing, a grandparent scam, or leeching —where a relative increasingly takes advantage of a senior they’re living with or receiving financial help from–Miller said the financial fallout is often debilitating. She also said older victims have few options to recoup the money.
“They don’t have years left in the workforce to make up the losses,” she said, adding that many victims face losing their homes.
In the case of AI scams, seniors could face even greater risk. They reported losing the most money in financial scams, but they’re not the population most likely to fall for them. According to data from the Better Business Bureau, adults ages 35 to 54 report the highest susceptibility rate. Yet, when a senior reports a scam, they often risk legal intervention.
“The legal response oftentimes to financial exploitation is a fix worse than the original malady,” Miller said.
But perhaps most devastating is the fact that many seniors fear losing their civil liberties if they admit to having fallen for a scam. In some cases, relatives or strangers will seek conservatorships to protect individuals, but this can dramatically change their lives.
“The ultimate loss of your personhood is the ability to make choices,” she said.
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