The celebrity promoting a product may not really be that person. Instead, it could be scammers posing as the celebrity.

Celebrity impostor scams are fake posts using photographs and artificial intelligence (AI) videos of famous people on social media accounts to lure people into making financial investments or buy products.

These days, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are filled with such fake celebrity accounts set up to deceive devoted fans.

Scammers con the real star's followers into making donations to charity, buying exclusive tickets or entering into investment deals which will definitely be profitable or a fee to win big prizes.

Cyberlaw expert, Mr. Derek Fernandez said, the scammers now were very clever, pointing out a recent case in China where the latest technology - the new AI face changing app - was used to defraud the head of a company of 4.3 million yuan (RM2.8mil) in just 10 minutes.

Local scammers are not far behind, he said, as local celebrities and famous people like politicians seem to be popping up on social media accounts urging one to invest or buy currencies.

“Celebrity impostor scammers can be charged under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1988 (Act 588),” said Mr. Fernandez.

Read further on The Star's article attached.