Dithmarschen police say an older couple lost several thousand euros after an AI-made interview with an actor promoted an investment on a fake site
The Itzehoe police directorate reported on 14 March 2024 that the Heide criminal police were dealing with two cases in which older people fell for fake websites where supposedly genuine celebrities promoted investments. In one, a seemingly genuine actor recommended an investment in a deceptively real interview, which the police say was created with artificial intelligence. Links on the sites led the victims, a pensioner and an older married couple, to a supposed trading platform; after friendly callers gained remote access to their computers, the couple transferred several thousand euros on top of the first payment. No gains were paid and the money was lost. The other case, a fake news article, is not described as AI-made.
- AI system
- Unidentified AI tool
- Occurred
- Event date unknown
- Reported
- 14 March 2024
- Event location
- Unknown
- What the AI did
- Depicted or impersonated the person
- Reported harm
- Financial Loss
- Whose AI use
- Someone else’s AI use
- Setting
- Finance
- Evidence
- AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
- 3 claims: 3 reported. 4 open questions
- People reported harmed
- 2 people
AI system as recorded: A deceptively real interview with a well-known actor promoting an investment, which the Itzehoe police say was created with artificial intelligence (tool, medium and actor not identified)
What Happened
The police account. In a release of 14 March 2024, the Itzehoe police directorate said the Heide criminal police currently had two cases in which older people had fallen for fake websites where supposedly genuine celebrities promoted investments. In one, a pensioner found a fake page of the Tagesschau news programme on which a newsreader promoted bitcoin in an article. In the second, a seemingly genuine actor recommended an investment in a deceptively real interview. Neither celebrity had anything to do with investment advertising. The police say the interview with the actor was created with artificial intelligence and the article was invented.
The losses. Links on the websites led the victims to a supposed trading platform, where the pensioner and the affected married couple left their contact details and later received calls from very friendly cybertrading advisers. They gave the fraudsters remote access to their computers and transferred money. The pensioner invested only a first payment of 250 euros; the older couple transferred a further amount of several thousand euros. No gains were paid out, the money was lost and the advisers could no longer be reached.
What the record covers. The AI attribution concerns the interview with the actor. The release names the woman and the couple as the victims of the two cases without stating explicitly which victim saw which site; since the woman's case is the fake article, the couple's case is the actor interview. Neither the actor nor the newsreader is named.
Reported harm
According to the Itzehoe police, an older married couple drawn by a fake interview in which an actor recommended an investment, an interview the police say was created with AI, transferred several thousand euros to a supposed trading platform and lost the money.
Outcome
UnknownThe Heide criminal police were handling the cases; the release reports that the callers could no longer be reached and gives no suspect, recovery of money or result of an investigation.
What remains unknown
- Which actor the interview showed, whether it was video, audio or text, which tool made it and how the police established that it was AI-made.
- When the couple saw the interview and made the payments; the release calls the cases current in March 2024.
- The exact amount the couple lost and whether any money was recovered.
- The release does not state in so many words that the couple's case is the actor interview; it follows from the two cases described.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. The Itzehoe police say the deceptively real interview in which a seemingly genuine actor recommended an investment was created with artificial intelligence, and that links on the fake websites led the victims to the trading platform where the older couple lost several thousand euros. The generated impersonation of the actor is what promoted the investment, according to the police. The release does not disclose the tool, the actor or how the police established the AI origin, and it links the couple to the actor interview only by elimination (the pensioner's case is the fake article).
3 claims: 3 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported The Itzehoe police say the Heide criminal police had two cases in which older people fell for fake websites where supposedly genuine celebrities promoted investments; in the second, a seemingly genuine actor recommended an investment in a deceptively real interview.
Causal attribution. The police's account of the two cases.
- presseportal.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
'Aktuell liegen der Heider Kripo zwei Fälle vor, in denen Senioren auf Fake-Seiten im Internet reingefallen sind.' ... 'In einem zweiten Fall war es ein scheinbar echter Schauspieler, der in einem täuschend realen Interview ebenfalls zu einer Geldanlage riet.'
Reported The police say the interview with the actor was created with artificial intelligence and that neither celebrity had anything to do with investment advertising.
Causal attribution. Attribution by the investigating police; the technical basis is not disclosed.
- presseportal.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
'Beide Prominente hatten tatsächlich nichts mit Werbung für Geldanlagen zu tun' ... 'Das Interview mit dem Schauspieler war mittels künstlicher Intelligenz erstellt und der Artikel war frei erfunden.'
Reported The police say links on the websites led the victims, a pensioner and a married couple, to a supposed trading platform; after giving the fraudsters remote access, the older couple transferred a further several thousand euros, no gains were paid and the money was lost.
Causal attribution. Losses as reported by the police. Which victim saw which site is not stated explicitly; the other case is described as the fake article seen by the pensioner.
- presseportal.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
'Auf den Webseiten waren Links verbaut, die die Betroffenen schließlich zu einer vermeintlichen Trading-Plattform leiteten.' ... 'Dort gaben die Rentnerin und das geschädigte Ehepaar ihre Kontaktdaten an' ... 'über eine Fernwartungssoftware Zugang zu ihren Rechnern' ... 'das ältere Paar überwies einen weiteren Betrag in Höhe von mehreren tausend Euro.' ... 'Natürlich kam es zu keiner Auszahlung der angeblichen Gewinne und das investierte Geld war weg.'
Sources
1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- Polizeidirektion Itzehoe (presseportal), 14 March 2024: Dithmarschen: Vorsicht vor Betrugsmasche(opens in new tab)
s1 · presseportal.de · Official statement · German · Inspected · 14 March 2024 · Primary
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Read in German by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-20 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. Itzehoe police directorate press release on presseportal.de, 14 March 2024; HTTP 200. Applies to s1.
Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Germany. Court countries: Unknown.
The Itzehoe police describe cases handled by the Heide criminal police in the Dithmarschen district, Germany, involving local older people, so the affected people's country is Germany. The release does not say where the victims were when they saw the sites or paid, and the calls came from German mobile numbers and from Austria and Belgium, so no event country is recorded. No court proceeding is reported.
Reviewed for publication 2026-10-20: Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): the Itzehoe police say an interview with an actor recommending an investment was created with AI and that an older couple lost several thousand euros on the trading platform the fake site led to. The technical basis and the actor are undisclosed. The event date is unknown; the id year is that of the March 2024 release, which calls the case current.
People described
An older married couple in the Dithmarschen district who followed links from a fake celebrity interview to a supposed trading platform
People reported harmed in this case
2 people
0 AI participants · 2 other people harmed
The married couple (two people) in the case of the AI-made actor interview (police release). The pensioner in the other case is not counted because her case is not described as AI-made; the depicted actor and newsreader are not named and no response from them is reported.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). Dithmarschen police say an older couple lost several thousand euros after an AI-made interview with an actor promoted an investment on a fake site. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2024-dithmarschen-police-say-older-couple-lost-several-thousand-euros-after-ai-made-interview-with-actor-promoted-investment
BibTeX
@misc{2024_dithmarschen_police_say_older_couple_lost_several_thousand_euros_after_ai_made_interview_with_actor_promoted_investment,
title = {Dithmarschen police say an older couple lost several thousand euros after an AI-made interview with an actor promoted an investment on a fake site},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2024-dithmarschen-police-say-older-couple-lost-several-thousand-euros-after-ai-made-interview-with-actor-promoted-investment}
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