No, Rory McIlroy is not giving away TaylorMade Qi10 LS drivers to golf lovers. The giveaway video which is seen on Facebook and instagram was created with Deepfake AI. If you’ve come across the fake giveaway on social media, here’s what you need to know about this scam.
How The Fake Rory McIlroy TaylorMade qi10 Giveaway Works
The giveaway scam claims all you’ve to do is ‘click the button below and answer a few questions’. However, when people click on the link, it takes them to malicious websites; lavishheroreward.com & laststepsurv.top. This is where the scam kicks off.
After answering a handful of survey questions, people are made to pay $2 – $5 for shipping, which is actually a disguise. The real amount they get charged is $77, for a shady golf club membership. Of course, they don’t receive the TaylorMade Qi10 driver or anything at all. Rather, they get cheap online magazines in their email and a monthly charge of $77.
Red Flag #1 – Fake Lawsuit Story
The giveaway video claims that due to a lawsuit over misleading advertisement they can’t sell their stock of nearly 5000 TailorMade Qi10 LS drivers. However, that’s a lie. There’s no lawsuit against TaylorMade Golf company for misleading advertisement. Rather, the brand itself is suing Costco for patent infringement.
Red Flag #2 – Uses Video Created With AI
A close look at the video used in the advertisement show the audio and facial expression don’t match. An AI generated voiceover was used over the video of Rory McIlroy. In the real audio, he wasn’t saying anything about a giveaway.
Red Flag #3 – Fake Reviews
On the websites, there are reviews from people who’ve allegedly benefited from the giveaway. However, reverse image search showed the images were stolen online. The names and faces do not match.
What Victims of this scam should do;
People who’ve fallen for this scam should contact their credit card issuer, then do this;
- Cancel the transaction
- Request for a refund if possible
- Cancel their credit card and get a new one (That way they wouldn’t get charged for the subscription again)
When the above steps have been completed. They should then proceed to scan their devices with a malware checker tool. There’s a likelihood that there are malware, spyware, viruses or other malicious programs lurking on the scam giveaway websites. If found, the malware removal tool will them
The final step to take is to update passwords and enable two factor authentication. Especially if a malicious program was found by the malware tool.
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