A company is running Facebook ads claiming to have salvaged parts from a wrecked Cybertruck. However, a close examination revealed that the wrecked Cybertruck pictures are AI-generated images.
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The Cybertruck is the most anticipated vehicle of our generation, and even after Tesla delivered thousands of Cybertrucks and ramped up the Cybertruck production run rate to 75,000 trucks per year, interest in the all-electric truck still remains high.
More than a million people are waiting in line to get their Cybertrucks, and this level of interest allows bad actors to profit unnecessarily from Cybertruck enthusiasts.
We’ve already reported on what happened after Tesla found out a Cybertruck owner, in breach of the contract he signed with the EV maker, sold his Cybertruck on the secondary market for a profit and other similar shenanigans taking place around the Cybertruck.
All these actions have stained the Cybertruck community; however, the people mentioned above at least actually bought a Cybertruck, and even if they are making a significant profit without adding much value, the end customer is choosing to pay the inflated prices willingly.
However, more sinister scams have recently started popping up in the Cybertruck community. These involve using artificial intelligence-generated images to trick Cybertruck enthusiasts.
One such egregious example is currently going on Facebook by a company supposedly calling itself BR Auto Wrecking. The post reads
SALVAGE 2024 TESLA CYBERTRUCK
This 2024 cybertruck got involved in an accident (rollover ditch crash) with such a high mechanical repair cost, but it still has many good parts left. We are breaking all parts down
*MESSAGE US FOR MORE…
📍Graham, WA 98338 - We SHIP
Below this post, BR Auto Wrecking included a picture of a severely damaged Cybertruck following a crash. The pictures include exterior and interior shots of the supposedly wrecked Cybertruck.
Everything seemed good until now. However, a closer inspection of the claims in the post and the pictures reveals that this is highly likely to be a scam.
First, let’s examine the exterior shot of the crashed Cybertruck. It appears that the Cybertruck crashed into the back of a large trailer. The hood is open, and several Cybertruck parts appear dispersed around the accident site.
However, if you look closely, despite having its front end completely smashed, the Cybertruck’s front LED running light is in perfect working condition. That’s the most obvious tell-tale sign; however, for a trained eye, the crashed Cybertruck picture contains an even more egregious yet subtle flaw that proves this is a heavily altered and most likely AI-generated image.
When looking closely at the doors, the Cybertruck in question has stainless steel door handle cutouts.
When Tesla first showed off the Cybertruck back in 2019, this was supposed to be the design; however, the production version did away with the stainless steel cutout for a door handle and integrated the door opening mechanism into the B-Pillar for the driver and passenger doors and the C-Pillar for the rear passenger doors.
However, the updated Cybertruck door opening mechanism was only shown off in November 2023 during the delivery event; before that time, almost all official Cybertruck pictures showed the truck with a door handle cut out on the stainless steel exoskeleton.
Currently, most of the AI systems floating around have been trained with data from a few years ago. If you ask an AI to create an image of Cybertruck in an accident, it will probably use images from a few years back, which, in this Cybertruck’s case, ends up creating an image with a door handle cutout on the stainless steel.
You can use this tell-tale sign to discern AI-generated Cybertruck images not only in this instance but also if you run across any suspicious Cybertruck images online.
Also, if you are wondering, this is how the Cybertruck actually looks after crashing into a semi-trailer. No one is harmed, but fair warning: the damage to the Cybertruck is upsetting.
The second sign that this ad is fake is the other three pictures BR Auto Wrecking shared of their supposedly salvaged Cybertruck. If you have been following the Cybertruck leaks back in 2023, you would recognize these pictures as a wrecked Cybertruck following an official Tesla crash test.
The crash-tested Cybertrucks were being transported, and someone, without Tesla's authorization, filmed the inside of the wrecked Cybertrucks. However, BR Auto Wrecking is passing these pictures out as if they own the vehicle.
The third sign that this is indeed a scam is in the company’s post. BR Auto Wrecking says the Cybertruck got into a rollover ditch crash; however, the AI-generated image they shared clearly shows the truck did not get into a rollover accident or end up in a ditch.
It appears that this is simply laziness by the scammers, or maybe they couldn’t yet generate a sufficiently believable picture of a rolled-over Cybertruck using AI.
Overall, we hope this article stops anyone from succumbing to this scam and contacting or sending money to this company. You will not get any Cybertruck parts and will likely end up disappointed.
Unfortunately, with the rise of artificial intelligence, these kinds of scams are becoming more common. We will do our best to stamp out the fakes and inform you of ongoing tricks. Until then, visit our site, torquenews.com/Tesla, regularly for the latest updates.
So, what do you think? Are you surprised to see people already using AI to generate scam advertisements? How long will it take before we can’t tell reality from fiction? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below by clicking the red “Add new comment” button.
Image: Courtesy of BR Auto Wrecking Facebook post
For more information, check out: Tesla Found Out I Sold My Cybertruck and Blacklisted Me From Buying Any Other Tesla Products – Tesla is Enforcing the Cybertruck Purchase Agreement
Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and the evolution of the EV space daily for several years. He covers everything about Tesla, from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.
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