Bitter pill: SABC presenter Leanne Manas's identity was stolen to create deepfake ads for weight loss “gummies” and an online trading platform. Photo credit
SABC anchor Leanne Manas says she is “angry” and “saddened” that her personal information was stolen and used to create deepfake video adverts which caused investors to lose their retirement savings on online trading platforms such as Banxso.
Manas is Mail & Guardian This week she talks about how her life has been turned upside down since the first series appeared as diet adverts on TikTok and Facebook around July last year.
The advert then changed to promise investors superior returns if they invested R4,800 on an online trading platform.
Manas said she had to be escorted to her car at work after being approached by victims of fraud, and she has had to deal with a flood of emails and calls from people claiming to have lost money on platforms such as Banxso.
However, Bancho general manager Manuel de Andrade has repeatedly denied that the company has anything to do with deepfake adverts featuring celebrities, and previously told the M&G that the company was investigating.
He had also previously said the company was working to resolve investor complaints.
According to people who lost money to the scam, similar deepfake ads for online trading directing investors to the Bankso platform have featured prominent businessmen such as Elon Musk, Johann Rupert, Nicky Oppenheimer and more recently Patrice Motsepe.
The M&G clicked on a few video links and received calls from consultants and welcome emails from Banxso.
When questioned this week, Bankso's lawyer, Darren Hanekom, reiterated to the M&G that the company denied any involvement with deepfake advertising.
“Our client strongly denies that he benefited from or was involved in any fraud or advertising.
“Further, we reiterate that our client was one of several service providers affected by these scams,” Hanekom said.
“Our client has contacted all relevant platforms through which the ad was distributed but has had limited success in negotiations with the hosts and owners.”
Manas said the deepfake ads started with doctored images of weight-loss “gummy bears,” which she noticed when she received messages on X and Facebook.
“I started getting messages from people asking about diet pills, 'Is that for real? Is that you? What is it?'”
“Then we got emails from people saying, 'I ordered something and nobody delivered it. I ordered something and then I noticed the money was gone from my bank account.'”
“They had to change their bank details to stop money being debited from their accounts,” Manas said.
While she was on holiday abroad with her family in August last year, the adverts evolved from diet pills to a libelous deepfake article in which she was portrayed as saying she had “exposed the secrets of the South African Reserve Bank” and being arrested for making on-air comments.
“There were rumours that I was taken off air on SABC 3’s Expresso show because I was talking about investment tools.
“I 'got a lead to the South African Reserve Bank' but I couldn't complete the interview because they took the microphone off before I could tell them the secret to making millions of dollars and ending poverty in this country,” she said.
“Obviously, I was off the air as I was on holiday abroad having the time of my life, little did I know that while I was away this investment story was starting to gain traction.
“It started with my microphone being cut off and then I got arrested.
“Then images started popping up on social media of me being arrested. It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen, with my face superimposed onto the faces of other people being arrested.”
“One shows him walking through town with shopping bags behind his back and being thrown into a police van.
“And this R4 700 [later R4 800] thing [investment platform] “It started to get out of control,” she said.
Manas said she had no idea who was behind the ads by Immediate Matrix and Immediate Momentum that used her name and deepfake video to encourage people to invest in their online trading platforms.
“Even the SABC is inundated with calls asking about investment projects 'I'm supporting'. It really breaks my heart,” she said.
“At least four or five people have come directly to the SABC asking for their money back, saying: 'So how do we get it back?' [they ask]”And the other thing is, people are coming to me and asking me for details on how to invest money in this. They have money and they want to give it to you,” Manas said.
“Now, I have to have a security guard escort me when I go in and out of the building because you never know what's going to happen.
“Someone had tracked down where my husband worked and was looking for the money.”
In another incident, an investor contacted Manas to say he had invested an amount but wanted to increase it to R1 million: “I see that my investment is going well but I just want to make sure everything is OK.”
“I wrote them back and said, 'This is fake,' and I realised I didn't know who I was talking to and it scared me a little bit. I didn't know what I belonged to and what my identity was being used for,” she said.
Manas also resents the fact that platforms like Facebook, YouTube and TikTok benefit financially from advertising.
“All these posts are sponsored, which means whoever the syndicate is. [Facebook parent company] Meta, they're paying for YouTube, they're paying for Facebook, they're paying for TikTok.
“They take the money and then they promote it on their platforms. If you had to invent a diet pill or an investment scheme or a platform, you'd never get this much attention. They're putting millions of dollars into advertising on these sites,” she said.
“My mailbox is full every day. [messages from] “People are asking me about the R4 800. I don't have the capacity to reply to everyone. At one point I was replying to every message.”
She said the scammers had been using her photo to impersonate her on WhatsApp and try to lure her into investing.
“It was a very difficult time for me to see my image being used in ways I didn't know about.
“I know nothing about this investment plan and it's heartbreaking to be sitting online and all of a sudden see my face appearing as an AI version of myself promoting something and trying to sell me something, when I know I have nothing to do with it whatsoever,” Manas said.
“What pains me even more is the fact that this matter has been repeatedly reported by myself and many others yet nothing has been done.
“These social media platforms allow this kind of behavior, and most of what I've seen – in fact, everything I've seen – is sponsored advertising, which means the platforms are profiting from other people's loss.”
“This is unacceptable and we cannot allow this to continue as we have vulnerable people.”
Manas said he tried to help IT security experts track down the culprits but was unable to get to the bottom of it.
Pensioners Zona and Chris Bruins have been fighting for months for their money after the company offered the couple a “no strings attached” partial refund of R600,000 of the R1.71 million they lost on the platform.
“Their 'Grievance Policy' states that the turnaround time for completing a complaint is 30 days. Our complaint was submitted on May 2nd and we last heard from them on June 14th.”
“Since then we've been emailing asking for feedback but no one has responded,” Zona Bruins said.
“Their last offer to us was one we rejected, but they admitted their mistake and apologised, so they need to do the right thing and refund the money they asked us for so we can rebuild our lives. It's a simple thing, but they seem to be trying to cut corners and ignoring us. They ruined our lives and did it with a smile.”
Bruins said Banchos had claimed on many platforms that it was refunding people who had been lured to the platform by false advertising, but “as pensioners, we have not received a cent.”
John Joost says he lost R204,800 after clicking on a deepfake ad featuring Musk that led him to Bankso's trading platform, and is frustrated that the company initially offered him a refund of just R4,800, before making a new offer to pay R50,000 over three months.
read more: Lianne Manas talks about fighting deepfake scams and identity theft
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Hanekom said Bancho was responding to the complaints of these investors.
“Both the clients mentioned have been proactively addressed by our clients regarding their complaints and allegations but have not responded to the efforts in any way despite our clients' persistent follow up,” he said.
“Our clients have responded to nearly all of the complaints and claims they have received to date, with less than 10% still needing action.
“All customer complaints were audited by our in-house legal and compliance team and appropriate refunds were made where deemed necessary,” Hanekom said.
But both Bruins and Jooste said they had asked Bancho to negotiate in writing but the issue had not been resolved.
The Financial Sector Conduct Authority issued a warning about Immediate Matrix's advertising in December last year.
In April, authorities said they were “investigating possible violations of financial law by Banchos” and that the company was cooperating with the investigation, a claim confirmed by Banchos general manager de Andrade at the time.
Immediate Momentum had not responded to questions from the M&G at the time of publication.
