Ads of Ayeza Khan and Wahaj Ali promoting gambling apps

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has reviewed this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team investigated the viral gambling ads and reached out to the actors for their response.

Viral gambling app ads circulating on social media platforms since June 4, 2024, showed actors Ayeza Khan and Wahaj Ali. However, the ads are fake and fabricated through the use of artificial intelligence.

HOW IT STARTED

On June 4, 2024, a Facebook page titled “Los memes son geniales” ran a sponsored advertisement video.

The video showed Pakistani actress Ayeza Khan endorsing a gambling gaming application, 1XBET- Casino. It also depicted people winning huge amounts of money and claimed that the offer was “exclusively for Pakistanis”.

The post received 19,000 likes.

On June 10, another video was shared by the Facebook page “Aviator Game” with the caption, “Pakistanis, explore the world of victory with Rocket Aviator! Register today and get a special bonus! Try your luck in games with unique themes and exciting animations. Don’t miss the chance to enjoy excitement in a safe gaming environment. Join us and turn every game into an adventure!”

The video showed a broadcast by news outlet SAMAA TV about Pakistani actor Wahaj Ali endorsing the Rocket Aviator application.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and keen public interest as the advertisements were allegedly sponsored by actors and targeted the Pakistani audience with lucrative moneymaking opportunities.

The video with Ayeza Khan had a number of glaring inconsistencies, the first being that her name was spelt and pronounced as “Ayesha Khan” with ‘sh’ instead of a ‘z’.

Furthermore, her audio and video did not match as they were not in sync and seemed to be dubbed over since what she was saying did not align with her lip movement.

The video also featured veteran Indian politician Subramanian Swamy as one of those who won huge sums because of the app and showed him thanking Ayeza Khan.

However, his video also showed glaring inconsistencies since he was perpetually looking down and there was blurred distortion around his mouth, suggesting that deepfake technology was used.

Contacted for comment, Affan Ahmed Khan, digital manager for Dawn News and a video editor, said the ad “used a TV channel’s branding elements and made sure to start the video as a news segment, which builds credibility in the mindset of viewers when they first begin to watch the video that it is from a credible media company.

“It says AWAZ, the lower third elements and text are vector files, which results in better quality but the video itself is pixelated. This proves that the lower third and news branding elements were placed on a pixelated video. Secondly, AWAZ or any other channel does not do English news titles.

“On the Ayeza Khan part, the video is clearly not in sync in any way with the lip and body movement. Even the person holding the mic is not using AWAZ’s logo.

“Also, the way the audio is coming is not natural. When a person speaks, his/her flow is not this natural. In between conversations, you can always hear ‘uhh, umm’ sounds.”

The same distortions, which are tell-tale signs of videos generated or manipulated through artificial intelligence, were found in the second video with both the anchor and Wahaj Ali.

Furthermore, no Pakistani news outlet would promote and broadcast gambling or betting-related apps in such a brazen manner.

Wahaj Ali confirmed the same, saying in a message to iVerify Pakistan that the video was “fake”. He said he had attempted to pursue action against the culprits but was obstructed by procedural hurdles and did not have the time.

“Please tell [everyone] that all of this is fake.”

Regarding the second video, Affan said: “This one they have done very cleverly. They made sure to pixelate the news branding elements and lower third. But what they forgot is to animate SAMAA TV‘s bug in the right corner.

“Also, this is not how SAMAA TV does its branding and it is not an English news channel. Here as well the conversation flow of Wahaj Ali does not seem like he is talking naturally, it gives the impression that he is reading a scripted line.”

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim regarding ads showing actors Ayeza Khan and Wahaj Ali endorsing gambling applications is false.

The videos are AI-generated and fabricated with Wahaj Ali also categorically denouncing his video as being fake.

Evidence and References