The scam was propagated through a YouTube video and manipulated with AI and voice cloning technology to appear as if Trudeau was promoting a cryptocurrency exchange and an investment platform aimed at “helping Canadians safeguard their financial future.”

“I thought, ‘It’s got to be legitimate, it’s got to be perfect. If not, how could you get the prime minister?’ So I thought, ‘It’s got to be official,'” Stephen Henry told CTV.

Henry initially invested $250, but then continued to invest his savings, believing his investments had grown to over $40,000 in value.

(He initially put in $12,000)

When Henry tried unsuccessfully to withdraw some of his money, he realized he’d been scammed.

“Now, I’m ripped off of all my chances of ever making a life. That was all the money I had,” he said.

  • splinterA
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    42 months ago

    Lol I mean this is so ridiculous though, who the fuck would believe the PM would be out there shilling some shitcoin? Some people are really gullible

    • @Herman
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      32 months ago

      Yeah, everyone knows the real money is made with Nigerian princes.

      • splinterA
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        22 months ago

        I miss the days when scams tried to inspire you, these days all I get is “here your bill ser”

    • @LovstuhagenOPM
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      32 months ago

      For real - and like, let’s say you were taken in by it… You’d probably want to type in “Trudeau crypto” into a web browser and do a few minutes of research before committing your life’s savings to this, lol…

      • splinterA
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        22 months ago

        Yeah, at least a token bit of research before you pour everything you have into something…

  • @stoy@lemmy.zip
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    32 months ago

    A good rule of thumb:

    If it is promoting crypto, consider it a scam.

    Another good rule of thumb:

    Never invest more money in anything, than you can afford to loose.

  • sj_zero
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    12 months ago

    Imagine thinking der fuhrer Trudeau would possibly do anything to help you saveguard your future.

    He’s sold our future to whoever bought him. Doubled the national debt and we have no common goods to show for it after the same political party he’s head of painstakingly balanced the budget and even paid off 1/5th of it during their previous tenure (a process which took decades). Devastated our financial system and destroyed global trust in it because people were saying his policies weren’t good. Spent billions on organizations that didn’t produce anything whatsoever of value but did hire his family members. There’s tent cities in every major city in Canada, and he doesn’t even care – he just increased his pet project carbon taxes yet again because transportation and home heating are a luxury in his worldview.

    If he thought he could get ahead hawking a crypto scam, he would. And he wouldn’t apologize for it, he’d get mad at you for having a problem with it.