As some Vincentians fall victim to scams that use fake articles and videos suggesting that they can make money from fake investments and government programmes, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves saw only an alleged attack on his government.
The fraudulent content has implicated a number of local and regional media outlets by attaching their logos to the content, thereby giving it a sense of legitimacy to unsuspecting netizens.
In St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), the articles began circulating in August after Kenton Chance of iWitness News hosted Jomo Thomas’ “Voices” on WE FM.
Shortly after that, a fake news article appeared claiming that Chance did not know that his microphone was still on and that he had disclosed to Thomas the “secret” to turning an investment of EC$700 into a million.
The fake news article claimed that while the original “hot mic” “disclosure” had been deleted, the authors of the article had a copy and detailed in the article how people could duplicate Chance’s alleged success.
Some netizens also interpreted the fake news article as suggesting that Chance had died. The journalist received several calls from people who wanted to confirm that that was not the case.
Chance also received numerous calls from people inquiring about the legitimacy of the article, with some of them complaining that they had been pestered by calls from UK numbers after following the steps outlined in what they later realised was a fake news article.
One of the giveaway signs of the fake news article was that it had used a photograph of Central Leeward MP, Orando Brewster as Chance.
Around the same time in August, similar articles began appearing across the Caribbean using the names and images of prominent media people and media entities.
The situation caught the attention of a regional press freedom entity that monitored the situation, especially as regards the impact on the credibility of media practitioners and outlets.
Since then, the scam has evolved, with the names and photographs of several government MPs being used in an attempt to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.
More recently, a deep fake video appeared of a man with a head that strikingly resembled Gonsalves’ on a body that was obviously not his, with a voice that somewhat resembled the prime minister’s.
In the video, the Gonsalves look-alike was having an “interview” with a woman playing the role of a journalist about how members of the public could get money from a fake government programme.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Gonsalves suggested that the fake news content was part of an effort to unseat his government in the next general elections.
He, however, said nothing to caution members of the public, especially his supporters, who are likely to fall victim to the scam.
Vincentians are widely expected to elect a new government in November, ahead of the February 2026 constitutional deadline.
“You notice where they have gone with it now. They gone AI (artificial intelligence),” Gonsalves said, referring to the deep fake video “interview”.
He said the AI-generated voice did not capture his “twang” but suggested that it would get better with time.
“… they can’t get it yet right but they still fooling some people,” said Gonsalves.
He had earlier suggested that the articles and video were part of a wider plot, involving foreign entities, such as China and supporters of the opposition New Democratic Party’s citizenship by investment proposal.
“And some of the commentators whom they paying say, ‘No, is not AI. That is Ralph,” said Gonsalves who made yet another unsubstantiated claim that some media houses and practitioners were being paid by foreign entities.
“Imagine — if you pay them money, they go say anything. I’m telling you what is happening,” Gonsalves said.
He said similar fake media content was being produced about his son, Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves, who is MP for East St. George.
“… and they’re doing with Carlos. Why they’re doing it with Carlos [James]? Because that is a close seat from the last election down there,” he said of North Leeward MP, who won his seat in 2020 by one vote after a contentious recount.
“… they going come to Saboto [Caesar], too,” he said of his agriculture minister, who is MP for South Central Windward.
“…because Camilo is a high-quality person, the son of Ralph, they want to decapitate the whole thing. But I’ll tell you, I know these people, and I want to tell you something: if they see that money ain’t working, AI ain’t working, bamboozling people ain’t working, they will turn to violence.”
Vincentians are enjoying a relatively peaceful year so far, with only about six homicides recorded, after 55 in 2024 and 55 in 2023.
Gonsalves said that historically, the people who want to sell Vincentian passports pay a company to run the campaign.
“You had SCL, you had Cambridge Analytica. Well, they gone the way of all flesh. But they have the operators still doing under different names.”
Gonsalves said someone in SCL and Cambridge Analytica said that conjoined, they have beaten every leader and political party except Gonsalves and the ULP.
PM says he met with ‘whistle-blower’
The prime minister said he had met with “a whistle-blower from among them” who told him “the money is important, but there’s also a vanity issue”.
Gonsalves said the people had a big poster of him at their office and used to throw darts at the poster of him.
“So when I tell you I know about these fellas, I know who they are, what they trying to do, and if AI doesn’t succeed, propaganda doesn’t succeed, money doesn’t succeed, they will turn to violence.
“I’m advising you, the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines not to take any of those kinds of chances,” Gonsalves said, adding that he would be prepared.
“But we have to be in concert with one another. We have to be together. We had to be in communion with one another. You have to give the NDP a licking this year, the likes of which they have never had.”
Gonsalves called on the electorate to beat the NDP more severely than in 2001, when the party moved from eight seats in Parliament to three, which was repeated in 2005 before it won a further four seats in 2010.
“They have to be punished for encouraging this nonsense,” he said, adding that the NDP’s “minders” were telling them not to talk about the China-Taiwan issue.
“But they have already decided that if, in the unlikely event, they were to win the election, the day after they are sworn in, they kicking out Taiwan and bringing in China.
“And they going start to bring in their legislation to sell the passports and the citizenship,” Gonsalves said.
The NDP announced in 2016 that if elected to office they would switch diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing and won the popular vote in 2020.
“You better listen to me what I’m talking about, because I don’t want you to say Ralph did know and he ain’t tell us. I’m telling you, and I’m telling you early and you’ll hear me with it repeatedly,” he said, adding, “and they will seek to cause confusion in this country.
“You know the metaphor you should look at? An arsonist burn your house and blame the fire brigade,” Gonsalves said.