At the time, asking someone to wave a hand in front of their face was one way to identify a deepfake. The image on the screen would either become distorted and give the fraudster away, or it wouldn’t. But Farid couldn’t bring himself to look into the former president’s eyes and ask him to prove those eyes were real. “So for 10 minutes, I’m like, ‘Am I just being punked?’ ” Farid says.