The “Tagesschau” is considered by many Germans to be the epitome of seriousness in journalism – what is announced there must be true. Fraudsters also take advantage of this and try to gain the trust of unsuspecting customers with manipulated news reports.
The latest example: A video in which “Tagesschau” announcer André Schünke praises a financial product (an allegedly “powerful investment platform”) in front of the well-known light blue background of the news program instead of reading the latest news. Apparently, strangers simulated his voice with the help of artificial intelligence and put the words in his mouth. Schünke himself is annoyed by this and warns of the attempted fraud on his Instagram account.
“Warning fake!!!”, writes the ARD journalist. The video is currently circulating on Instagram and Facebook, but is fake. “You can also tell by the bad emphasis,” Schünke jokes, and asks his followers to report the video to Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. Anyway: “Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not a good advisor when it comes to finances.”
Schünke spoke to the radio station NDR 90.3 about the brazen attempt at fraud. “I was pretty scared,” he admitted. He immediately hoped that no one would fall for it. However, he does not want to rule it out, because at first glance the video can seem quite believable. “I think they’ve done pretty well,” admits Schünke. “If you just do a quick swipe on Instagram or TikTok, people might fall for it.” The NDR, which produces the “Tagesschau”, is therefore taking action against the video.
Lottery winner Chico also appears in the video and boasts about his luxury cars – which, the fake video wants to make you believe, he owes to the advertised form of investment. An excerpt from a real television report was used for this, but it was put in the wrong context.
Chico has encountered scammers who want to use his name and face for their purposes. At the beginning of the year, a fake “Tagesschau” post was also circulating on social media, giving the impression that the Dortmunder had won ten million euros with a certain lottery app. At the time, Chico defended himself on Instagram in his own way: “The bum, the one who did it – I greet him from here. I didn’t win that in your app, my friend.”
Sources: André Schünke on Instagram / Chico on Instagram / NDR 90.3
