TL;DR
AI-generated videos of injured former soldiers are being used to sell products online, according to a BBC investigation that identified 45 such accounts on TikTok alone. One Wiltshire army veteran paid £154.99 for a “handmade” wooden flag that arrived as a printed picture on plywood. It is the latest in a run of scams with an AI element aimed at UK consumers and traders, and this one is built on sympathy.
How the scam works
Raymond Gilbert, a 63-year-old from Bradenstoke, served the British Army as a quality manager at Camp Bastion and Kandahar. He saw a TikTok clip of an apparently wounded veteran making flags in his garage, backed by a supportive wife, and followed a link to buy one. The external shop looked credible, with a record of earlier sales. The parcel came with Chinese writing on the envelope.
“People need to be aware that AI is getting better and humans are getting worse,” he told the BBC.
The same format turns up on YouTube and on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, the BBC found, selling bags, chopping boards and wreaths as well as military-themed items. Warning signs include injuries that change between videos, the same backstory reused across accounts, and footage too polished for a garage workshop. Asked whether the videos were fake, one account replied that its products were “made in London”, but gave no details of any military service.
Technology commentator Will Guyatt said such clips take minutes to make, and chatbots can be told to make them more emotional. Networks of bot accounts then fill the comments with encouragement to buy.
Harder to fix than to spot
TikTok says it has taken down all 45 accounts. Meta removed the accounts reported to it, and YouTube closed several channels. Daniel Fletcher, a senior associate at Forbes Solicitors, said buyers are entitled to refunds, but the cross-border nature of the adverts makes that right hard to use. Once an advert is removed, he added, the trader can simply set up again.
Help for Heroes warned that fake hardship stories undermine veterans’ confidence in the charities meant to help them, and suggest support does not exist when it does.
Looking forward
Other recent cases include fake food festival emails aimed at small traders, where organisers say generative AI has removed the usual warning signs, and a Carlisle woman who lost £35,000 after a fake Farage video. Genuine small makers who sell through social video also lose out, because every fake story makes buyers more wary of real ones. Removal after a journalist complains is not a defence that scales, and the pressure on platforms to catch these accounts first will grow.