Aspiring Indian doctor scams MAGA fans with 'hot' model influencer

CHENNAI: A 22-year-old Indian medical aspirant used an AI-generated ‘hot girl’ persona posing as a MAGA influencer to scam hundreds of unsuspecting followers online.

While looking for ways to earn quick money, Sam (name changed) stumbled upon the idea of creating an AI model to pose as an Instagram influencer. Explaining the logic behind choosing a MAGA persona, he said his model had to be niche to stand out among thousands of white influencers. Within a month, Emily Hart had amassed more than 10,000 followers. Many of them also subscribed to her softcore AI-generated content on Fanvue, an OnlyFans-like platform.

Her content revolved around promoting right-wing ideologies such as anti-abortion, pro-ICE, and pro-Christian views. Some of her posts included statements like: “Christ is king,” “Abortion is murder,” “All illegals must be deported,” and “POV: You were assigned intelligence at birth, but you identify as liberal (clown-face emoji).”

“Every Reel I posted was getting 3 million views, 5 million views, 10 million views. The algorithm loved it,” Sam told WIRED. He said he was earning a few thousand dollars a month while spending less than an hour on it.

Emily Hart is part of a growing trend of AI-generated female influencers gaining traction among MAGA audiences. Experts say this may be because, while the movement has many male influencers, female influencers remain relatively rare.

Although Sam has never lived in the United States, he began learning about American political ideologies. Reflecting on his success, he told WIRED that Democrats were more likely to identify the content as AI-generated than conservatives.

“The MAGA crowd is made up of dumb people — like, super dumb people. And they fall for it,” he added.