An alleged scam using artificial intelligence (AI) to impersonate members of the royal family is raising concerns after it was reported to be targeting elderly social media users with fake offers of financial assistance.
The issue was highlighted by Threads user @Piqahalwi, who claimed her father nearly fell victim to the scam after repeatedly trying to contact a social media account he believed belonged to a royal family member.
She said her father was convinced the individual intended to provide him with financial aid and remained sceptical even after she repeatedly explained that the videos were AI-generated.
“Scammers are now targeting elderly people who cannot tell the difference between AI-generated videos and real ones. I’ve explained to my father many times that it’s a scam, but he still doesn’t believe me,” she wrote.
She also claimed the scammers were freely impersonating members of the royal family to deceive the public and urged other users to report the account.
Several users in the comments section shared similar experiences, alleging that the same scam offered victims RM50,000 in financial assistance before requesting a RM200 “verification fee” to process the payment.
One user, @Mfbyxxthex, said they deliberately tested the account and were eventually instructed to pay RM200 to qualify for the promised financial aid.
“I purposely tested them. It was obvious it was a scam when they asked me to pay RM200 as a condition to receive the assistance,” the user claimed.
Another user, @Mirgaktau, said they had already reported the account and encouraged others to do the same in the hope that it would be removed before more people became victims.
Authorities have repeatedly reminded the public to verify the authenticity of social media accounts and to avoid making any payments or sharing personal information in response to unsolicited offers of financial assistance.
