Ripple's CEO Brad Garlinghouse is raising alarms over the emergence of sophisticated deepfake scams and a bogus regulatory filing that briefly disrupted the cryptocurrency market. On social media platform X, on Monday Garlinghouse emphasized the importance of verifying information through official channels in response to an uptick in deceptive videos that manipulate old Ripple event footage to falsely show him endorsing a fraudulent XRP giveaway.
The scam videos, which promise to double XRP deposits sent by users, have been proliferating on YouTube, prompting Garlinghouse to criticize the platform's efforts to combat fraudulent content. His concerns come amid a backdrop of past legal disputes with YouTube, including a 2020 lawsuit that resulted in a 2021 agreement to address such scams. The crypto community has supported Garlinghouse's stance, with some suggesting another lawsuit may be necessary.
In a related incident, investors were briefly misled by a fake filing listed on Delaware's official website, purporting the launch of an "iShares XRP Trust" fund by BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK). The false claim caused XRP's value to spike by nearly 13% before it corrected itself after the investment firm denied any involvement. This event, coupled with the deepfake scam, underscores the challenges faced by investors in distinguishing between legitimate and fraudulent information within the crypto space. The XRP Ledger Forensics team also issued warnings about these "free money" scams, highlighting the need for increased vigilance among digital asset holders.
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