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Low reported severity Media Coverage

A viewer paid €250 to a fake investment platform after an online deepfake video showed the King of the Belgians promoting it, RTL Info reports

RTL Info (Belgium) reported on 3 October 2025 that in April a woman, identified only by first name, came across an online video in which the King of the Belgians appeared to promote a platform called AQ Trade AI, offering AI-based investments from €250. The video was a deepfake. After a phone call with a supposed adviser, the viewer paid €250. That night the viewer grew suspicious and called the bank, which immediately blocked the card. The report does not say whether the €250 was recovered. RTL Info ran the account alongside a Belgian authorities' awareness campaign on fake online investment offers.

AI system
Unidentified video tool
Occurred
Apr 2025
Reported
3 October 2025
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 · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
3 claims: 3 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: Deepfake video using the image of the King of the Belgians to promote the AQ Trade AI investment platform, as reported (tool not identified)

What Happened

The account. RTL Info's report of 3 October 2025 opens with an awareness campaign by Belgian authorities on fake online investments and then gives one person's account. In April, the person came across an online video that inspired immediate trust: the King of the Belgians appeared to praise a platform called AQ Trade AI, offering investments based on artificial intelligence from €250. RTL Info states that the video was a deepfake, a digital manipulation that used a celebrity's image to make the scam credible. The person told RTL Info that because the King was speaking, it seemed it could only be honest.

The payment. After a phone call with a supposed adviser, the person gave in and paid €250. During the night doubt set in, and the person called the bank, which immediately blocked the card. RTL Info says the person narrowly avoided a spiral of further payments.

Context in the same report. The report also quotes the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (€15 million lost by individuals to fake investments since the start of the year, and an average loss of more than €37,000 per victim) and the FSMA on how such scams escalate. These figures describe other victims and are not part of this case.

Limits. One outlet's report of the person's own account. The report does not say where the video was seen, how it was identified as a deepfake, whether the €250 was recovered or whether a complaint was filed. The year of the April payment is read from the report's publication date (October 2025).

Reported harm

A viewer paid €250 to the AQ Trade AI platform after a deepfake video showed the King of the Belgians promoting it, then had the card blocked, according to the viewer's account to RTL Info.

Outcome

Unknown

The viewer's bank blocked the card on the night of the payment. The report gives no police complaint, recovery of the €250 or action against the platform.

What remains unknown

  • Where the video was seen (platform or site).
  • Where the person lives.
  • Whether the €250 was recovered and whether a complaint was filed.
  • How the video was identified as a deepfake and which tool made it.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. RTL Info states that the video in which the King of the Belgians promoted AQ Trade AI was a deepfake, a digital manipulation using a celebrity's image. The AI-made video impersonated the King (depicted_or_impersonated). The viewer then dealt with a human-sounding phone adviser, and the report does not say that AI was used in that call. How the video was identified as a deepfake and which tool made it are not reported.

3 claims: 3 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported In April, the person saw an online video in which the King of the Belgians appeared to promote a platform called AQ Trade AI, and RTL Info states the video was a deepfake.

Causal attribution. The outlet's characterisation of the video; how it was identified as a deepfake is not stated.

  • rtl.be(opens in new tab) supports · French
    'tombe sur une vidéo en ligne qui attire immédiatement sa confiance : le roi des Belges y vante les mérites'; 'plateforme baptisée AQ Trade AI, vantant des investissements basés sur'; 'Mais tout est faux : la vidéo est un deepfake, une manipulation numérique utilisant'
Reported After a phone call with a supposed adviser, the person paid €250.

Causal attribution. The person's own account as reported; the person attributes the trust placed in the offer to the King appearing in the video.

  • rtl.be(opens in new tab) supports · French
    'Après un appel téléphonique avec une prétendue conseillère, elle cède et verse 250 euros.'
Reported That night the person called the bank, which immediately blocked the card, and RTL Info says further losses were narrowly avoided.

Causal attribution. Reported account; whether the €250 was recovered is not stated.

  • rtl.be(opens in new tab) supports · French
    'Mais dans la nuit, le doute'; 'téléphoné à ma banque qui a immédiatement bloqué la carte.'; 'Elle a évité de peu une spirale infernale.'

Sources

1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in French on 2026-10-04 (HTTP 200; datePublished 2025-10-03). Researcher translation. Reports the person's own account by first name. Applies to s1.

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

RTL Info is a Belgian outlet and frames the account within a Belgian awareness campaign, but it does not state where the viewer lives or where the video was seen. Countries are left unknown rather than inferred from the outlet. No court proceeding is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-04: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a core case: according to one outlet's report of the person's account, a deepfake video impersonating a head of state led a viewer to pay €250 to a fake investment platform. The person is identified in the source by first name only.

People described

A viewer of an online investment video, identified in the report only by first name; age and place of residence not stated

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One person, the viewer who paid €250 (RTL Info). The King, whose image was used, is not reported to have been harmed and is not counted. Aggregate victim figures in the same report are not counted. Exact 1.

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

Tags

#deepfake#celebrity-impersonation#investment-scam#fraud#belgium

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). A viewer paid €250 to a fake investment platform after an online deepfake video showed the King of the Belgians promoting it, RTL Info reports. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-deepfake-king-philippe-aq-trade-ai-investment-video-250-euro-payment

BibTeX

@misc{2025_deepfake_king_philippe_aq_trade_ai_investment_video_250_euro_payment,
  title = {A viewer paid €250 to a fake investment platform after an online deepfake video showed the King of the Belgians promoting it, RTL Info reports},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-deepfake-king-philippe-aq-trade-ai-investment-video-250-euro-payment}
}

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