It's not the fact that someone got scammed (though that is terrible). Scams happen all the time. Just check out this one where a Vince Gill fan got scammed. It's the fact that a deepfake proved to be convincing. For those not in the known, a deepfake is a digital copy of someone. One Yellowstone fan got scammed out of money by a convincing deepfake of Kevin Costner.
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Eileen Leeks said she joined a Yellowstone-dedicated social media page. That's when things unfortunately went wrong. Leeks received a message claiming a promotion. It said that she could meet Costner if she purchased Apple vouchers. As a big fan of the actor and the show, it seemed like a dream come true.
Leeks told BBC Radio Suffolk it sounded like a dream come true. Additionally, she said that they started nagging her about. The woman realized she had been scammed. But then she got double scammed. They reached out saying she had bee scammed and asked for £1,000 for a VIP membership card. That would let her meet Costner.
"I was getting nagged and then I gave in because they were saying you won't meet him unless you get the Apple cards, so I bought two at £100 each," she said.
'Yellowstone' Fan Conned By Kevin Costner Scam
"I then got a message back saying I had been scammed. And [in order to actually meet Mr Costner] I would have to buy a VIP membership card for over £1,000. I thought, you're joking - he's a millionaire," she said.
However, she said she got a video call from what appeared to be Costner himself. That confirmed to her that it was legit.
She said, "His face was moving and that's why I thought it was really him. He was sitting in a chair in his office and he was moving. He said, 'This is Kevin Costner and you have been scammed.' His 'management team' then got hold of me and said it's not him, and people were using his face and voice to scam people."
Ultimately, she ended up reporting the whole thing as a scam. However, they continued to contact her. They offered her a job and a place in the United States.
"I thought, 'I don't believe this, what on earth is going on?'" she said. "If fans think they are going to get a job in America and an apartment and they get all the way over there then they will lose an awful lot. I am unemployed and I've lost a lot of money, so I am not very happy."
