What happened

A deepfake video allegedly of Ronaldo appeared on Facebook encouraging users to earn more than their salary by downloading the popular online game Plinco (also known as "Plinko"). 

The video appeared to show Ronaldo speaking to camera in his own voice before showing AI-generated images of a schoolteacher, a bus driver and a grocery store worker. 

However, the audio had been manipulated and the link provided led to a fake game called Bubble Shooter and likely resulted in people being defrauded.

A Faceboook user reported the content to Meta but the company did not remove it. The post was viewed approximately 600,000 times before finally being taken down.

Why it happened

The scam was made possible by the increasing sophistication and accessibility of software enabling anyone to create highly convincing deepfake videos quickly and at little or no cost. 

The scammers likely targeted Ronaldo due to his fame and influence in order to lend credibility to their scheme. 

Meta's initial failure to remove the content, despite user reports, is likely to have contributed to the scam's spread.