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NOPE
Low reported severity

Analyst Michael Hewson reportedly impersonated in AI-generated video advert directing users to WhatsApp investment group

City AM (dated 21 March 2025) reported that a fake video using AI to pose as Michael Hewson, host of the Good Money Guide Podcast, circulated on Facebook and Instagram that week and directed users to a WhatsApp group with promises of undervalued investments. Hewson said on X that the advert had nothing to do with Hewson, that it had been reported and was being taken up with Meta, and that Hewson was very angry. A Good Money Guide article dated 3 June 2025 (which may describe the same advert or a later one) reported that its report to Meta had not led to removal three days later and that the sponsored post had been viewed 29,000 times. No person is reported to have joined the group or lost money.

AI system
Unidentified video tool
Occurred
Mar 2025
Reported
21 March 2025
Event location
Unknown
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Other Material Harm
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Finance · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
3 claims: 3 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 1 person

AI system as recorded: Unspecified AI tool (reported by the outlets, not identified)

Reported harm

Hewson said publicly that the advert had nothing to do with Hewson and that Hewson was very angry about it; the harm is the use of the analyst's name, credentials and an AI-generated likeness to solicit investors. City AM and Good Money Guide report no defrauded person.

What remains unknown

  • No person is reported to have joined the WhatsApp group or lost money. The AIAAIC entry refers to potential financial losses of victims, which no inspected source states.
  • The exact date the advert first ran is not stated. City AM is dated Friday 21 March 2025 and says the video circulated "this week". The Good Money Guide page carries the date 3rd June 2025 and says the advert was reported "three days" before writing. Whether that page was written in March and dated later, or describes a second advert, is not established.
  • The Times report listed by AIAAIC is behind a bot wall (page returned a 100-character stub) and was not read.
  • City AM reports an earlier March 2024 statement by Hewson about WhatsApp messages offering crypto investment services in Hewson's name. No AI involvement is stated for that earlier matter, and it is not part of this case.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. City AM and Good Money Guide describe the video advert as AI-generated. Neither names a tool. The video was not viewed by the reviewer.

3 claims: 3 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported A video advert using AI to pose as Michael Hewson, host of the Good Money Guide Podcast, circulated on Facebook and Instagram in March 2025 and directed users to an investment WhatsApp group.

Causal attribution. City AM and Good Money Guide report that the video was AI-generated. Hewson said on X that the advert had nothing to do with Hewson. No forensic analysis or tool is named, so AI generation is a reported characterisation. The Good Money Guide article describes Hewson as the host of the Good Money Guide Podcast and says the advert was reported to Meta.

  • cityam.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    A fake video using AI to pose as the host of the Good Money Guide Podcast circulated on Facebook and Instagram this week, attempting to lure users into joining a Whatsapp group.
  • goodmoneyguide.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    a fake AI video advert was published on Facebook and Instagram that directed users to a scam WhatsApp group.
Reported Hewson said on X that the advert had nothing to do with Hewson, that it had been reported and was being taken up with Meta, and that Hewson was very angry about it.

Causal attribution. Hewson is quoted by City AM from an X post. The statement records Hewson's reaction and denial of involvement and does not establish any consequence beyond the use of the analyst's identity.

Reported Good Money Guide reported that, three days after it reported the sponsored advert to Meta, the advert was still up and had been viewed 29,000 times, up from 2,000 when first reported.

Causal attribution. This is the publisher's own count of views of one advert and is not a count of people harmed. Whether any viewer joined the WhatsApp group or lost money is not reported.

Sources

2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

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

The inspected sources do not state a country for the advert, its audience or Hewson. The AIAAIC entry lists the UK, which is archive metadata and is not used. No court proceeding is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-29: City AM (21 March 2025) and a Good Money Guide article report an AI video advert (the Good Money Guide page is dated 3 June 2025 and may describe the same or a later advert) and one X post by the impersonated analyst, who spoke publicly under their own name. Claims are reported. The case rests on the impersonated analyst as the harmed person. No defrauded victim is reported. Event month is taken from the City AM date line.

People reported harmed in this case

At least 1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One person counted: the impersonated analyst, who spoke publicly. No defrauded person is reported. The 29,000 views are views of an advert and are not counted.

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). Analyst Michael Hewson reportedly impersonated in AI-generated video advert directing users to WhatsApp investment group. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-michael-hewson-reported-ai-video-advert-whatsapp-investment-group

BibTeX

@misc{2025_michael_hewson_reported_ai_video_advert_whatsapp_investment_group,
  title = {Analyst Michael Hewson reportedly impersonated in AI-generated video advert directing users to WhatsApp investment group},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-michael-hewson-reported-ai-video-advert-whatsapp-investment-group}
}

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