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Medium reported severity

Economist David Rosenberg reports impersonation in Facebook and Instagram ads that directed investors to a WhatsApp investment scam

Economist David Rosenberg told The Globe and Mail (18 June 2025) that ads on Facebook and Instagram since March 2025 promoted a fake investment program listing him as its administrator and redirected people to a WhatsApp group. The Globe reported that one investor interviewed estimated losing $16,000, another said she lost $500,000 in a week, and a third alleged losing $450,000 in life savings. Rosenberg told BNN Bloomberg on 7 July 2025 that the scammers used a fake AI voice and video of him, and a Globe column of 17 July 2025 described a deepfake video advert. Losses are self-reported and unverified. The AI characterisation comes from Rosenberg and a July Globe column, and the June Globe article on the investors does not mention AI. A Toronto police detective said no victim had reported to police.

AI system
Unidentified video tool
Occurred
Mar 2025
Reported
18 June 2025
Event location
Unknown
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Financial Loss
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Finance · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 3 underlying accounts
7 claims: 7 reported. 7 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 4 people

AI system as recorded: Unspecified AI voice and video generation tools (reported by Rosenberg, not identified)

Reported harm

The Globe and Mail reports self-reported losses of $16,000, $500,000 and $450,000 by three investors who joined a WhatsApp group promoted through ads using Rosenberg's name. Rosenberg estimated larger totals. None of the amounts is verified.

What remains unknown

  • The three losses ($16,000, $500,000, $450,000) are self-reported and unverified. No investor has filed a police complaint according to the Toronto police detective quoted on 18 June 2025.
  • It is not established that the ads the investors saw were AI-generated. The AI descriptions are from Rosenberg and a Globe columnist later in July 2025.
  • BNN Bloomberg says victims "followed advice in videos recommending stocks on social media platforms". That is BNN's paraphrase and does not say the videos were AI-made.
  • The scam started in March 2025 per Rosenberg and continued into July 2025 (BNN Bloomberg, 7 July). No end date is reported.
  • Rosenberg's total estimates ($1 million, then $5 million) are unquantified and no count of victims is given beyond "dozens" of people reported to have contacted Rosenberg Research.
  • The Globe did not name the investors reporting the $500,000 and $450,000 losses because they raised safety and reputation concerns. The investor reporting $16,000 is named by the Globe and is not named here.
  • The AIID entry also refers to other impersonation cases discussed in a separate Globe article of 22 June 2025 (not cited here). Those are separate events.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Rosenberg told BNN Bloomberg that the voice and video used to impersonate him were fake and AI-generated, and a Globe and Mail column of 17 July 2025 describes a deepfake video advert of him. The 18 June Globe article about the investors does not mention AI, so AI involvement in the ads the investors saw is not established.

7 claims: 7 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported David Rosenberg said that ads on Facebook and Instagram as early as March 2025 promoted a fake investment program falsely listing him as its administrator, and that people were directed to a WhatsApp group.

Causal attribution. Rests on Rosenberg's account to The Globe and Mail, repeated by BrokersView.

  • theglobeandmail.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    ads appearing on Facebook and Instagram as early as March have promoted a fake investment program falsely listing him as its administrator.
  • brokersview.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The ads falsely claimed that the economist was the administrator of an investment scheme.
  • theglobeandmail.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Mr. Rosenberg said all the investors were lured in by professional-looking ads posted to social media, which then redirected them to a WhatsApp group.
Reported Rosenberg said the scammers used AI to impersonate him, including a fake voice and video, and a Globe and Mail columnist described a deepfake video advert of him.

Causal attribution. The AI characterisation comes from Rosenberg's interview and the columnist's description of an advert the Globe newsroom became aware of days after its June article. The 18 June Globe article does not mention AI. It is not established that the ads seen by the investors below were AI-generated.

Reported An investor interviewed by The Globe and Mail estimated losing $16,000 after joining a WhatsApp group called "(03) Rosenberg Investment Strategy" in which an administrator pretended to be Rosenberg.

Causal attribution. Self-reported loss in an interview. The investor is not named in public fields. Whether the ad this investor saw was AI-generated is not stated.

Reported The Globe and Mail reported that another investor said the loss was half a million dollars in one week after clicking a Facebook ad and joining the WhatsApp group.

Causal attribution. The Globe interviewed the investor and did not name her. BrokersView repeats the Globe report without independent sourcing. The amount is the investor's statement and is not verified.

Reported The Globe and Mail reported that another victim alleged a loss of $450,000 in life savings and wrote so to Rosenberg Research.

Causal attribution. Allegation in an e-mail to Rosenberg Research relayed by the Globe. Not verified.

Reported Rosenberg estimated total losses of more than $1 million (Globe, 18 June 2025) and at least $5 million (BNN Bloomberg, 7 July 2025); the Globe said the total is unknown.

Causal attribution. Estimates by Rosenberg. They are not counts of people and are not adopted as totals.

Reported Rosenberg said he and his family reported the fraud to police, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and Meta without result, and a Toronto police detective said no victim had reported it to police.

Causal attribution. Statements by Rosenberg and by a Toronto police detective, as relayed by outlets. The detective's statement says only that no victim had reported to police at that time.

Sources

4 sources inspected, from 3 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Derived from the Globe and Mail article of 18 June 2025. Applies to s2.

Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.

The inspected articles mention Toronto police and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre in relation to reports, but do not state where the ads were shown or where the investors live. No country is inferred from the outlet, the police force or the speaker. No court proceeding is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-29: The Globe and Mail (18 June 2025), BrokersView (derived), BNN Bloomberg (7 July 2025) and a Globe and Mail column (17 July 2025). The economist spoke publicly under his own name and is named. The investors are not named. Investor losses and the AI characterisation are reported and unverified. Four persons are counted as a documented minimum.

People reported harmed in this case

At least 4 people

0 AI participants · 4 other people harmed

Four persons counted: the three investors whose losses are reported in the Globe article (two interviewed by the Globe, one by e-mail to Rosenberg Research) and Rosenberg, who is impersonated. Rosenberg's "dozens" of contacts and his loss estimates are not counted because they do not identify harmed persons.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Economist David Rosenberg reports impersonation in Facebook and Instagram ads that directed investors to a WhatsApp investment scam. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-david-rosenberg-reported-ai-impersonation-ads-whatsapp-investment-scam

BibTeX

@misc{2025_david_rosenberg_reported_ai_impersonation_ads_whatsapp_investment_scam,
  title = {Economist David Rosenberg reports impersonation in Facebook and Instagram ads that directed investors to a WhatsApp investment scam},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-david-rosenberg-reported-ai-impersonation-ads-whatsapp-investment-scam}
}

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