Surabaya court jails two over AI deepfake videos of East Java Governor Khofifah offering cheap motorbikes that police say defrauded about 100 people

The police account. At a press conference at East Java police headquarters on 28 April 2025, the regional police chief said the case began with a report from the East Java provincial communications and informatics office on 14 April 2025. Police said the suspects had manipulated video of Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa with AI deepfake technology so that the governor appeared to be marketing motorbikes for Rp500,000 each, posted the videos on several TikTok accounts with a WhatsApp number, and had divided the work between making the video, uploading it and running the WhatsApp account. The police chief said that, according to a suspect's statement, the governor's video had been edited using artificial intelligence. Police said evidence seized from the suspects also included TikTok accounts with similar manipulated videos of the governors of West Java and Central Java used for fraud.

The victims. According to the police, people taken in by the videos contacted the WhatsApp number and were directed to transfer money; over three months the group took Rp87.6 million from victims in East Java, Central Java, West Java and North Maluku, whom the police chief estimated at about 100 people. The indictment, as reported by Harian Disway, adds that victims who transferred money were asked for a further Rp1 million to Rp1.5 million for vehicle papers and were then blocked, and puts the total at Rp79.6 million.

The prosecution. The suspects were charged under the ITE law and the Criminal Code's fraud article. At the first hearing at the Surabaya District Court on 15 October 2025, the prosecutor's indictment said the video had been edited with the DreamFace app and dupdub.com so that the governor's lip movements and voice appeared real.

The verdict. Suara Publik reported on 16 December 2025 that the presiding judge at the Surabaya District Court declared two defendants guilty of jointly manipulating electronic information without right and sentenced each to three years in prison and a Rp500 million fine (three months in lieu), less than the three years and six months the prosecution had sought. According to that report, the court found that the defendants used TikTok accounts to spread AI-edited videos showing the governor's facial gestures and voice as if the governor were offering cheap motorbikes, and a victim witness said the video had kept appearing in the witness's TikTok feed, that the witness was deceived by it, and that the witness reported to East Java police when the motorbike never arrived. The third suspect was tried in a separate case file, whose outcome was not found.

According to East Java police, about 100 people in four provinces paid a total of Rp87.6 million for motorbikes offered in AI-manipulated videos of Governor Khofifah; the indictment, as reported, puts the total at Rp79.6 million. The governor's office reported the videos to police.

Police charged the three suspects under articles of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) law and article 378 of the Criminal Code on fraud (28 April 2025). Two defendants' trial opened at the Surabaya District Court on 15 October 2025, with the third defendant, described as the maker of the video, in a separate case file. Suara Publik reported on 16 December 2025 that the court found the two defendants guilty of jointly manipulating electronic information without right (article 51(1) with article 35 of the ITE law and article 55(1) of the Criminal Code) and sentenced each to three years in prison and a Rp500 million fine, below the prosecution's request of three years and six months; the outcome of the third suspect's separate case was not found.