An 86-year-old Ontario woman lost more than $900,000 after falling victim to a cryptocurrency scam that used a deepfake video of Prime Minister Mark Carney to lure investors online.Judy Skene, Sault Ste. Marie. Marie said she first discovered the fraudulent scheme while browsing the web in 2025 Facebook. She saw a video of Carney promoting a cryptocurrency investment platform that promised unusually high returns and legitimacy backed by the Bank of Canada.“I saw an ad on Facebook from Mark Carney telling me that if I invested $350, the Bank of Canada would support it,” Skeen said.Skene believed the news, clicked the link, signed up and paid the down payment. Soon after, she received a call from someone claiming that the value of her investment had tripled. She continued investing over the next few months.She gradually began investing her life savings. Skene even took difficult financial steps to stay invested.“So I agreed to a $300,000 mortgage on my condo,” Skeen told CTV News.On the fake platform, her account saw strong growth and her funds almost doubled. In fact, she had no real investment, she was fooled.By the time the scheme ended, Skeen had lost more than $900,000. Contact suddenly stopped after the last payment was made, she said.“Once I made the last payment, there was no more talking and all my money was gone,” Skeen said.The impact is serious. A family friend, Pat Probert, stepped in to support her. The situation became so distressing, he said, that Skeen even considered suicide.“Her condo bills were going up, her condo and car insurance were going up,” Probert said.Probert has since raised concerns about online fraud and urged attention to vulnerable relatives, especially older people living alone.“If you know an elderly person who is lonely, please reach out to them and make sure they have someone on their bank account as their emergency contact,” Probert said.Such scams are becoming increasingly difficult to detect due to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create realistic deepfake videos featuring public figures, including politicians such as Carney and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.Mohit Rajhans, an artificial intelligence expert and media consultant at Think Start Inc., said social media companies that publish such deceptive ads should also be held accountable.“These scams exist on all different types of platforms,” Rajhans said.As Skern tried to recover from the devastating loss, she publicly warned others about online fraud.“Just be vigilant and careful about what you see on Facebook,” Skeen said.Probert also started a GoFundMe campaign to help her manage living expenses, noting that she had previously planned to donate the money to charity because she had no immediate family.“Judy wanted to leave money to different charities because she had no children or relatives and was an only child,” Probert said.“Judy didn’t do it out of greed; she did it to help others, and now she’s the one who needs help.”
