Frausters are unrelenting in impersonating Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, this time using Artificial Intelligence, AI, to defraud others.
In the latest of the many identity thefts the distinguished writer has suffered over the years, the fraudsters created a viral video, with the use of AI, showing Soyinka advertising a drug for hypertension, with a man in a black suit standing behind him.
The fraudsters, according to Soyinka, were so ingenious in carrying out the criminal act that they crafted “figure, voice, gestures, facial expressions etc etc. all combined to present a fully persuasive composite that has taken in many sufferers!”
Nehru Odeh recounts that cloning was so deftly done that it would take some measure of supernatural intelligence, not artificial this time, to discern the real from the synthetic or fake.
Still, the intriguing thing about this AI-generated video is that many have fallen victim and been defrauded by it. A woman, for instance, paid N150,000 for the drug and never received her “free sample”. And all her attempts to call the so-called advertisers have failed.
“Yesterday, barely days after I was sent a link, a woman called me up, a total stranger, but she was desperate enough to track down my number, having parted company with N150,000 to this villainous operator.
“I interrupted her to let her understand that I already knew where she was headed, and that what she saw was a product of Artificial Intelligence, She was aghast and remained distraught, ” Soyinka said.
READ ALSO: Soyinka gets Cuba’s Union of Writers and Artistes’ global award
The fraudulent video opens thus:
“My name is Wole Soyinka and I have been battling hypertension for 15 years now. At the age of 60, I was diagnosed with hypertension. Every day I suffered from headaches, there was this ringing in my ears, high blood pressure, deteriorating vision and other symptoms.
“Despite consulting many doctors and the best cardiologists in the country, no one could actually cure my high blood pressure. I was prescribed a multitude of medications and therapeutic procedures. Even surgery was suggested.
“The main issue was there were no medications available in pharmacies that could help me. The drug I was prescribed only temporarily lowered my blood pressure. “
This has indeed confirmed Soyinka’s screams and complaints about the incessant identity thefts he has suffered over the years, especially on social media.
Recall that the Nobel Laureate had in several for a criticized the ignoble and criminal manner many have used social media not just to bully others, including himself but also to defraud unsuspecting victims.
Reacting to the latest fraudulent episode, Soyinka said:
“I have been screaming IDENTITY THEFT for years now, even decades. Now Artificial Intelligence is upon us, and IDENTITY heist is moving fast from crude extrapolations and attributions, Cut-and-Paste, photo-shopping, fake accounts, fly-by-night blogs and platforms etc. etc.
“Now, identity is being cloned by virtually flawless technological expertise and of course, our enterprising compatriots refuse to be left behind.
“Are you aware that I have been “endorsing” a cure for Diabetes? Figure, voice, gestures, facial expressions etc etc. all combined to present a FULLY PERSUASIVE COMPOSITE that has taken in many sufferers!”
However, Soyinka called on the media to act proactively to forestall civic mayhem and stressed the need for collective efforts to track down fraudsters and impersonators on the internet.
He recommended “a full-scale pressure on Internet Police, to track down and unmask at least one felon so we can tar and feather him/her publicly as an example to others…..only such a collective effort will stem the tide.
“The Press must confront the menace openly – Town Hall meetings and all. You people must take the initiative, ” he said, adding that “serial individual action – press conferences etc – will not work… “
“Put your heads together,” Soyinka also said. “The media must act proactively to forestall Civic Mayhem. Let no one think I exaggerate.”
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