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The foundation for the Spanish heir to the throne warns that fraudsters use AI-generated videos featuring Princess Leonor, on the popular social networking site TikTok in order to defraud victims of hundreds of Euros.
In a press release, the Princess of Asturias Foundation stated that: “The Foundation has no programmes which offer financial aid, subsidies for project, lotteries, or any other monetary operation for the benefit of individuals.”
“Equally Princess Asturias does NOT offer financial aid via the Foundation and any messages or profiles that suggests otherwise are fake.”
An investigation by a newspaper in 2024 led to the intervention. El Pais which looked at fake videos posted on TikTok where a smiling ‘Leonor’ promises users thousands of dollars in payment in return for an upfront fee.
Some of the videos were viewed more than a million time.
Once the upfront fee – normally a few hundred dollars – has been paid in full, the scammer typically demands more or disappears.
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All the accounts involved in the scam are based in Dominican Republic, according to the investigation.
El Pais approached TikTok, which says in its rules and regulations that the platform ‘does not allow accounts that cheat or try to manipulate our platform, nor an exchange of services that artificially increase interaction…including behaviour such as undercover operations to influence or to supplant identity’.
TikTok responded: “We’ve determined that reported content does not violate our rules.”
The Princess of Asturias Foundation urged social media companies, to immediately remove any fake profiles. They also urged them to improve their verification procedures to stop further abuses of Leonor’s identity.
It also advised the public to be cautious, and verify any account claiming that the Princess was genuinely affiliated to official channels before replying or interacting with the messages.
One victim told El Pais The scam cost them around $800.
“I thought I talked to Leonor,” Juana Cobo said, a Guatemalan mother of two aged 39.
“They sent a message to me on TikTok stating that I was speaking to Princess Leonor, and I had won $100,000. However, I needed to pay tax of 2,220 Quetzales [$250] “It’s time to get rid of the money,” she said.
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After she paid, Cobo coughed up an additional $150 for ‘legal fees’ and made an additional payment before finally realising she was being led up the garden path.
“When they heard I said they were scammers, they went away, they blocked my phone, and I didn’t get any more calls from them,” she claimed.
Leonor, the oldest daughter of King Felipe and Queen Letizia became the heir apparent to the throne after Juan Carlos I abdicated in 2014.
She took on the full titles of Princess Asturias as well as Princess Girona, Princess Viana, Duchess Montblanc, Countess Cervera, and Laby de Balaguer.
If Leonor becomes queen, she will be the first woman to rule Spain since Isabella II who ruled from 1868 until 1868.
This year, she will complete a three-year training course in the military.
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