By Savanna Young For Daily Mail Australia
04:11 21 Jun 2023, updated 04:11 21 Jun 2023
Scammers are continuing to spread false photos of David ‘Kochie’ Koch being arrested by police following his retirement.
The TV veteran, who quit Sunrise earlier this month, has regularly been the face of scam images that are generated by AI.
A recent image circulating Facebook shows what appears to be Kochie, 67, smiling while being placed under arrest and escorted by police.
The image has also been plastered with 9News’ logo and the phrase: ‘Breaking News’.
‘Why didn’t he tell the truth sooner?’ the fake caption read.
‘Kochie didn’t know the camera was still recording… Is this the end of his career?’
Another post sees a poorly Photoshopped Kochie being carried by the wrists and ankles by police officers.
‘The scandal the [sic] left everybody shocked,’ the super read.
It isn’t the first time Kochie’s face has been used in an attempt to scam social media users.
He was the subject of multiple cryptocurrency scams that used false reports of his death to dupe people out of thousands of dollars.
In April, a sloppily edited image of Koch looking distraught was shared as police officers drag him away.
‘Thousands flock to ATMs after Kochie’s arrest,’ read the false headline.
In the same month, Kochie was targeted by a cruel death hoax when criminals used his image and fake news of his passing to scam people out of thousands.
He was bombarded with ‘tributes’ over the weekend when a Twitter post announcing his death went viral, Crikey reported.
Originating from a hacked account, the tweet included a link redirecting users to a cryptocurrency scam featuring fraudulent celebrity endorsements purporting to be from the likes of Koch, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates and others.
‘Although saying goodbye is never easy, we take comfort in knowing that Kochie lived a full and meaningful life, leaving behind a legacy of kindness, warmth and compassion,’ the scam tweet read.
The message was accompanied by a black and white photo of Koch looking distraught with his hands over his face.
Koch retweeted the post and assured his followers that despite taking a week off work at the time, he was ‘alive and well’.
‘Just for clarity, I’m alive and well and enjoying AFL’s Gather Round in Adelaide with all my family. This stuff is really giving me the s**ts,’ he said.
Koch has asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) if there is anything he can do about these scams, but was told they will continue to pop up if people keep falling for them.
The owner of the Twitter account, Kimberly Ramirez, told Crikey she ‘had no idea’ her hacked account was spreading a crypto scam under the guise of a tribute to Koch.
She went on to say she had received an email from Twitter alerting her to a login attempt on her account. The email stated the hacker could have accessed her account from Lake Forest, Illinois.
Kochie officially departed Sunrise after a record 21 years on the show. He has been replaced by former Olympic sprinter Matt Shirvington, 44.
‘I have loved every single minute of it and I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved here over the last 21 years,’ he said during his announcement last month.
‘I’ve been privileged to experience so many great adventures, to meet so many different people and to meet so many different people and to cover so many moments of history in the making. It really is the world’s best job.’
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