Taylor Swift deepfakes are pushing scams on TikTok, and it’s working

Scammers have found a new use for AI-generated celebrity deepfakes: pushing sketchy rewards programs on TikTok. Authentication company Copyleaks has been tracking the trend, and the results are as predictable as they are depressing.

The ads typically show celebrities like Taylor Swift or Rihanna in interview settings—red carpets, podcasts, talk shows. The footage is often real, but manipulated with AI to change what they’re saying. One ad features a disturbingly realistic AI avatar of Swift urging viewers to sign up for a program that supposedly pays you for watching TikTok content and giving feedback.

TikTok’s official branding appears in some of these ads, which gives them a veneer of legitimacy. But click through, and you’re redirected to third-party services that ask for personal information. The whole setup is classic phishing bait, just dressed up with deepfake tech.

What’s interesting—and frankly, alarming—is how good the deepfakes have gotten. The Swift avatar in particular is convincing enough that I can see a casual viewer not questioning it. The lighting, the lip-sync, the subtle head movements: it’s all there. We’ve come a long way from the uncanny valley nightmares of a few years ago.

Copyleaks didn’t specify how many of these ads are circulating, but the fact that they’re being flagged at all suggests the volume is significant. TikTok’s moderation has historically struggled with coordinated scam campaigns, and AI-generated content only makes the problem harder.

I’ve seen this pattern before with crypto scams on YouTube and Facebook. The playbook is always the same: use a recognizable face, build false trust, then redirect to a site that asks for your data or money. The only difference here is the production quality has jumped thanks to accessible AI tools.

If you’re on TikTok and see an ad with Taylor Swift offering you easy money, it’s a scam. No celebrity is out there personally recruiting you for a rewards program. The real question is how long it will take TikTok to get ahead of this. Given the platform’s track record, I’m not holding my breath.