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Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

Bucharest prosecutors say deepfake adverts drew mostly older people to a call centre that sold them unauthorised supplements; six women agree plea deals

The Prosecutor's Office attached to the Bucharest Court of Appeal announced in October 2026 that six women had concluded plea agreements in a fraud case over a call centre that, during 2025, sold unauthorised food supplements by telephone. According to the prosecutors, potential victims, mostly older people, were drawn in by deepfake-type online adverts in which the products falsely appeared to be recommended by well-known journalists, doctors and artists; they left their contact details on the promoted site and were then called by operators posing as medical specialists. The agreements say the five women who worked as operators misled 50 people in total, causing losses of 88,600 lei, although the per-defendant figures in the same communique are larger (one operator alone is said to have contributed to misleading 50 people, and the other four 28, 16, 8 and 3 people) and the communique does not explain the difference. The agreed sentences range from nine months to one year and six months, with their application postponed for a two-year supervision period; the agreements were sent to four courts and the main investigation continues.

AI system
Unidentified AI tool
Occurred
2025
Reported
20 October 2026
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 · Health
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
5 claims: 5 reported. 5 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 50 people

AI system as recorded: Deepfake-type online adverts in which supplements appeared to be recommended by well-known journalists, doctors and artists, as described by the Bucharest Court of Appeal prosecutors (tool and medium not identified)

What Happened

The scheme. According to a communique of the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Bucharest Court of Appeal (PCA Bucuresti), reproduced by Ziua de Constanta on 20 October 2026, a fraudulent call centre with operators from Romania and the Republic of Moldova sold, during 2025, food supplements that were not authorised for sale, had no health benefits and were potentially harmful.

The adverts. The prosecutors say potential victims, mostly older people, were drawn in by deepfake-type online adverts in which the products falsely appeared to be recommended by well-known journalists, doctors and artists. They left their contact details in a form on the promoted site and were then called by a supposed specialist. The operators, who had no medical training, presented themselves as specialists in urology, rheumatology or nutrition and followed scripts tailored to the condition of the person called.

The losses and the agreements. According to the plea agreements, the five women who worked as operators misled 50 people in total, causing losses of 88,600 lei. The communique's per-defendant list is larger: one operator is said to have contributed to misleading 50 people (88,600.99 lei) and the other four to misleading 28, 16, 8 and 3 people, with losses of 76,249, 66,036, 6,745 and 21,239 lei. It does not say whether the people counted for different operators overlap. The sixth woman let a close relative, initially refused by the call centre because of her age, work under her identity. The application of the agreed sentences is postponed for a two-year supervision period; the agreements were sent to four courts and the main investigation continues. The investigation is run by a joint team with Moldovan prosecutors, coordinated by Eurojust and supported by Europol.

What is not known. The communique does not say how the prosecutors established that the adverts were deepfakes, which tool was used, whether the adverts were images, video or audio, which public figures they showed, or where the people who were misled live.

Reported harm

According to the Bucharest prosecutors, the five call-centre operators misled 50 people, mostly older, who had been drawn in by deepfake-type adverts, causing losses of 88,600 lei through sales of unauthorised supplements.

Outcome

Pending

Plea agreements were concluded on 13 and 14 October 2026 with six defendants (five operators charged with continued fraud and one woman with complicity, for letting a close relative work under her identity). The agreed sentences range from nine months to one year and six months, with execution postponed for a two-year supervision period. The agreements, in separated files, were sent to the Bucharest Sector 6, Cornetu, Targu Jiu and Ploiesti courts; the investigation continues in the main case against the other people under investigation.

What remains unknown

  • How the prosecutors established that the adverts were deepfakes, which tool was used, and whether they were images, video or audio.
  • Which public figures the adverts showed and on which platforms they ran.
  • Where the people misled live, and whether each of the 50 people saw an advert before being called.
  • Whether the courts approve the plea agreements and what the main investigation finds.
  • Why the communique's total of 50 people and 88,600 lei differs from its per-defendant figures (50, 28, 16, 8 and 3 people; losses of 88,600.99, 76,249, 66,036, 6,745 and 21,239 lei), and whether the people counted for different operators overlap.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The investigating Bucharest Court of Appeal prosecutors say the victims were drawn in by deepfake-type online adverts in which the supplements falsely appeared to be recommended by well-known journalists, doctors and artists; through those adverts the victims left their contact details and were then called and sold the products, losing 88,600 lei in the cases covered by the agreements. The generated depiction of public figures was the lure toward the people misled. The prosecutors do not disclose how they established that the adverts were deepfakes, the medium or the tool.

5 claims: 5 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported According to the prosecutors, potential victims, mostly older people, were drawn in by deepfake-type online adverts in which the supplements falsely appeared to be recommended by well-known journalists, doctors and artists, and left their contact details to be called by a supposed specialist.

Causal attribution. The investigating prosecutors describe the adverts as deepfakes; they do not disclose how they established this or name a tool.

  • ziuaconstanta.ro(opens in new tab) supports · Romanian
    Potențialele victime, în majoritate persoane vârstnice, erau atrase prin reclame online de tip deepfake, în care produsele apăreau în mod fals ca fiind recomandate de jurnaliști, medici și artiști cunoscuți, și își lăsau datele de contact într-un formular de pe site-ul promovat, pentru a fi sunate de un pretins specialist.
  • gddhd.ro(opens in new tab) supports · Romanian
    Victimele erau atrase prin reclame online de tip deepfake, apoi contactate de persoane care pretindeau că au pregătire medicală.
Reported During 2025 a fraudulent call centre with operators from Romania and Moldova sold by telephone food supplements not authorised for sale, without health benefits and potentially harmful; operators without medical training posed as specialists.

Causal attribution. Prosecutors' account as recorded in the plea agreements.

  • ziuaconstanta.ro(opens in new tab) supports · Romanian
    un call center fraudulos, cu operatori din România și din Republica Moldova, a vândut telefonic suplimente alimentare neautorizate spre comercializare, fără beneficii pentru sănătate și potențial dăunătoare.
Reported According to the plea agreements, the five defendants who worked as operators misled 50 people in total, mostly older, causing losses of 88,600 lei.

Causal attribution. Figures from the prosecutors' account of the agreements; the agreements await court approval.

  • ziuaconstanta.ro(opens in new tab) supports · Romanian
    Potrivit acordurilor, cele cinci inculpate care au activat ca operatori ar fi indus în eroare, în total, 50 de persoane, majoritatea vârstnice, prejudiciul cauzat acestora fiind de 88.600 lei.
Reported Plea agreements were concluded on 13 and 14 October 2026 with six defendants and sent to four courts; the investigation continues in the main case against the other people under investigation.

Causal attribution. Procedural status as announced by the prosecutors.

  • ziuaconstanta.ro(opens in new tab) supports · Romanian
    "acordurile de recunoaștere a vinovăției încheiate, la datele de 13 și 14 octombrie 2026, cu șase inculpate" and "Acordurile, încheiate în dosare disjunse, au fost înaintate spre competentă soluționare Judecătoriei Sectorului 6 București, Judecătoriei Cornetu, Judecătoriei Târgu Jiu și Judecătoriei Ploiești, iar ancheta continuă în cauza principală față de celelalte persoane cercetate."
Reported The agreed sentences range from nine months to one year and six months, with their application postponed for a two-year supervision period for all six defendants.

Causal attribution. Terms of the agreements as announced by the prosecutors; they await court approval.

  • ziuaconstanta.ro(opens in new tab) supports · Romanian
    "1 an și 6 luni închisoare" and "9 luni închisoare" and "Pentru toate inculpatele s-a dispus amânarea aplicării pedepsei pe un termen de supraveghere de 2 ani"

Sources

2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in Romanian by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. Ziua de Constanta, 20 Oct 2026, reproducing the PCA Bucuresti communique ("transmite PCA Bucuresti"); HTTP 200. Applies to s1.

Read in Romanian by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. Gazeta de dimineata, 20 Oct 2026, a rewrite of the same communique (same origin, not independent); HTTP 200. Applies to s2.

Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Romania.

The plea agreements were sent to the Bucharest Sector 6, Cornetu, Targu Jiu and Ploiesti courts in Romania. The communique says the call centre had operators from Romania and Moldova but does not say where the calls were made from or where the people misled live, so no event or affected-person country is recorded.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-21: Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): the investigating Bucharest prosecutors say deepfake-type adverts showing well-known journalists, doctors and artists drew mostly older people to a call centre that sold them unauthorised supplements, and that the operators in these agreements misled 50 people for 88,600 lei. The technical basis of the deepfake attribution is undisclosed. No defendant or victim is named.

People described

People, mostly older, who according to the prosecutors were drawn in by deepfake-type adverts, left their contact details and were sold unauthorised supplements by call-centre operators posing as medical specialists

People reported harmed in this case

At least 50 people

0 AI participants · 50 other people harmed

The plea agreements say the five operators misled 50 people in total (prosecutors' communique); the prosecutors describe the victims as drawn in by the deepfake-type adverts before being called. The communique's per-defendant figures are larger (one operator alone is said to have contributed to misleading 50 people, the others 28, 16, 8 and 3) without saying whether the people overlap, and the wider call-centre investigation continues, so 50 is a lower bound. The journalists, doctors and artists shown in the adverts are not named and no response or consequence is reported for them, so they are not counted.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#supplement_fraud#fake_celebrity_ad#call_centre#older_people#plea_agreement

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Bucharest prosecutors say deepfake adverts drew mostly older people to a call centre that sold them unauthorised supplements; six women agree plea deals. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-bucharest-prosecutors-say-deepfake-adverts-drew-mostly-older-people-to-call-centre-that-sold-them-unauthorised-supplements

BibTeX

@misc{2025_bucharest_prosecutors_say_deepfake_adverts_drew_mostly_older_people_to_call_centre_that_sold_them_unauthorised_supplements,
  title = {Bucharest prosecutors say deepfake adverts drew mostly older people to a call centre that sold them unauthorised supplements; six women agree plea deals},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-bucharest-prosecutors-say-deepfake-adverts-drew-mostly-older-people-to-call-centre-that-sold-them-unauthorised-supplements}
}

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