Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has revealed he was unknowingly used as the face of a YouTube bitcoin scam and warned that similar deepfake tactics are increasingly being deployed against high-profile tech figures such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
Speaking to CBS News, Wozniak said scammers took an old video of him discussing bitcoin, overlaid it with a cryptocurrency wallet address, and falsely promised to double any amount sent. “Of course it’s fraud,” he said. The deception came to light when his wife, Janet, received an email from a victim asking about their “refund.” According to Wozniak, some victims claimed they lost their life savings.
Despite repeated takedown requests, Wozniak said YouTube failed to act. “We never got to YouTube; our lawyer has gotten to their lawyer, that’s all,” he noted, adding that his wife’s direct appeals were ignored. He is now suing YouTube on behalf of the victims, but the case has been stalled for five years due to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields online platforms from liability for user-generated content.
Wozniak argued that the incident reflects how far the internet has drifted from its early ideals. “When the internet really began to be a public thing, it seemed to be there to democratise information… and then came the social web and Google. Google had to make money. And the only way to make money is tracking you and selling it to advertisers.”
Warning that billions are lost annually to cryptocurrency and AI-driven scams, Wozniak said there is “not enough real muscle to fight” such fraud. While he maintains that Apple remains “the best,” he lamented that his criticisms often go unheard: “Nobody buys my voice.”
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