Nollywood filmmaker Stephanie Linus has raised an alarm over a fake AI-generated video circulating online. She recently warned Nigerians to avoid falling victim to the clip that uses her identity to promote an investment scheme.
Stephanie simply shared screenshots of the supposed news broadcast, outlining steps the public can take to help stop the spread of the scam.
The actress concluded by urging people to ignore and report any messages linked to the video, stressing that she is not associated with any such investment.
Her words, “FAKE AI VIDEO SCAM ALERT!!!
This is becoming too much.
A fake AI-generated video is circulating on Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms using my face, voice, and TVC’s name to promote an ‘investment.’
This video is not from me. It is 100% fake and created by scammers to deceive people.
Please ignore and report any message, investment offer, or request for money claiming to be from me.
My updates come only from my verified pages. Authorities and digital platforms have been notified. Let’s protect our loved ones and shut this down.”
WOW.
Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.
The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.
Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.
Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.
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