According to U.Today, David Schwartz, Ripple's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and one of the creators of XRPL, recently commented on a video published by Ripple. The video features Ripple's CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, taking a strong stance against scammers who frequently impersonate him on various social media platforms, primarily on X/Twitter and YouTube.
Schwartz made an ironic comment on the anti-scam video, stating that he first saw it during a Zoom meeting. He also referred to a joke made by Garlinghouse at the end of the video about getting his hair right. Schwartz expressed disappointment when he watched the video for the second time, though he did not elaborate on the reason for his disappointment.
In the video, Garlinghouse harshly criticizes scammers who impersonate him, calling them 'pathetic lowlifes' and asserting that Ripple is 'fighting back' against them. The video also features a person impersonating Garlinghouse, promoting a typical crypto scam by encouraging users to send him any amount of XRP in return for double the amount. The real Garlinghouse, dressed in a suit, informs viewers that there are no XRP giveaways, except scams.
Scammers have been attempting to trick cryptocurrency users into parting with their XRP for many years. However, their efforts have become more persistent since around 2020, prompting Ripple to take action against them. Four years ago, Ripple criticized YouTube for allowing crypto scams featuring Ripple and deepfake videos of its CEO. Recently, with the advent of advanced AI tools, fraudsters have started conducting more sophisticated cryptocurrency scams.
U.Today recently reported that realistic-looking fake videos of Brad Garlinghouse and Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson have surfaced, in which they ask the community to send them XRP and ADA, promising to return double the amount as part of giveaways. Hoskinson has commented on this, predicting that in the next few years, such AI-generated deepfake videos will be indistinguishable from real ones.