{"id":673955,"date":"2026-07-04T20:15:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T20:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/673955\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T20:15:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T20:15:35","slug":"natwest-boss-caught-in-ai-social-media-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/673955\/","title":{"rendered":"Natwest boss caught in AI social media scam"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\tFriday 03 July 2026 3:55 pm<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tFriday 03 July 2026 5:15 pm\n\t<\/p>\n<p><img width=\"742\" height=\"495\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/NatWest_111223_041-1.jpeg\" class=\"media \" alt=\"NatWest building exterior with logo, highlighting corporate presence and architecture on a business news website.\" fetchpriority=\"high\" loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"sync\"  \/>\t\tNatwest chief executive Paul Thwaite.\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The boss of Natwest has become the latest City figure to be depicted in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/fraud-losses-surge-as-scammers-use-ai-to-manipulate-victims\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">AI scam across social media.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paul Thwaite \u2013 the chief executive of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/natwest-hit-with-250m-lawsuit-tied-to-thurrock-council-scandal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">FTSE 100 bank<\/a> \u2013 was posted on X alongside journalist Emily Maitlis in a deepfake picture attempting to create a BBC radio interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The picture was shared by multiple accounts, with one caption reading: \u201cOn air, Emily Maitlis raised the NatWest CEO\u2019s salary, causing a strong reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thwaite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/pay-for-natwests-top-boss-balloons-to-6-6m-as-bonuses-soar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">banked \u00a36.6m in the last year<\/a> \u2013 a 33 per cent increase on his pay packet in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A spokesperson for Natwest said: \u201cWe\u2019re working closely with social media platforms to remove these false images. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey are another reminder of criminal activity designed to defraud people \u2013 especially the vulnerable \u2013 and we encourage members of the public to stay vigilant and report any suspicious activity.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"640\" width=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot2026-07-0314.40.25.jpeg\" alt=\"Breaking news headline with date and time details displayed on a digital screen, highlighting a significant event in 2026.\" class=\"wp-image-2439708\"  \/>Natwest boss Paul Thwaite was depicted in an AI deepfake.Bank of England fires back at deepfakes<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The latest slew of deepfake images follows the Bank of England making a strong intervention after governor Andrew Bailey was depicted in a fight with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The video showed the two men pulled apart by police officers, with one showing Farage even holding a gun.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"read-more__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/badenoch-sets-sights-on-battle-with-the-bank\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Badenoch sets sights on battle with the Bank<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cUnfortunately, fake adverts impersonating the Bank of England and other central banks are on the rise,\u201d Bailey said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThese scams are designed to criminally exploit the public, especially the vulnerable, when they are online. I would urge everyone to stay vigilant and report these scams. That way authorities can better root out digital deception like this and permanently remove the fraudsters responsible for what is a truly online scourge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Farage also spoke out on the \u201cbizarre AI videos\u201d stating while he and Bailey had \u201cdisagreements\u201d he would \u201cnever take it that far\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The UK\u2019s Online Safety Act contains rules that aim to curtail the spread of deepfake media through requiring tech platforms to tackle fraudulent advertising. But these measures do not come into force until next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this year, the UK\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/breaking-ofcom-investigation-into-grok\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">media watchdog opened an investigation into Elon Musk\u2019s X<\/a> to determine whether the platform has done enough to protect Brits from explicit deepfakes generated by its Grok AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ofcom pointed to \u201cdeeply concerning reports of the Grok AI chatbot account on X being used to create and share undressed images of people\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If X is found to be in violation of media law, Ofcom could hit the firm with a substantial fine of up to as much as 10 per cent of the social media firm\u2019s revenue or \u00a318m, depending on which number is bigger.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The investigation is still ongoing.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"read-more__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/natwest-housing-finance-chief-social-housing-changes-lives-i-would-know\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Natwest housing finance chief: Social housing changes lives \u2013 I would know<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\tSimilarly tagged content: <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tSections\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tCategories\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPeople &amp; Organisations\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Friday 03 July 2026 3:55 pm \u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0 Friday 03 July 2026 5:15 pm Natwest chief executive Paul Thwaite.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,47516,6288,151787,10606,151789,16347,47517,43964,733,4308,3490,1340,84,129332,4229,11700,5726,225383,16819,225384,50,16506,225385,225386,306,224,95752,225387,225388,227,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-673955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-ai-action-plan","tag-ai-adoption","tag-ai-ads","tag-ai-agents","tag-ai-ambitions","tag-ai-boom","tag-ai-bots","tag-ai-bubble","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-bank-of-england","tag-banking","tag-business","tag-deepfakes","tag-economics","tag-fintech","tag-grok","tag-grok-ai","tag-natwest","tag-natwest-share-price","tag-news","tag-ofcom","tag-ofcom-probe","tag-paul-thwaite","tag-regulation","tag-social-media","tag-social-media-ban","tag-social-media-culture","tag-social-media-trend","tag-tech","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}