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NOPE
Medium reported severity

Hirosaki police (Aomori, Japan) say a man in his 40s lost ¥720,000 to an investment fraud that reached him through an AI-generated celebrity video

Hirosaki police in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, announced on 8 October 2026 that a man in his 40s living in the prefecture had been defrauded of ¥720,000 through a video, generated with artificial intelligence, of a real celebrity recommending investment, as reported by the Too Nippo newspaper. According to the police account, in about mid-July he followed a TikTok investment advertisement that impersonated a celebrity into LINE and Signal groups, made an initial profit on recommended shares, and then, at the suggestion of a LINE account, installed an investment app and transferred ¥720,000 from a convenience-store ATM to a designated account. When the app bought shares beyond his holdings and demanded the shortfall, he asked an AI, which pointed out that it might be fraud, and he realised he had been deceived. The celebrity and the tool used to make the video are not named.

AI system
Unidentified video tool
Occurred
Jul 2026
Reported
8 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 · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
3 claims: 3 reported. 6 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: An AI-generated video of a real celebrity recommending investment, used in a TikTok investment advertisement, as described by Hirosaki police (tool not identified)

What Happened

The police account. Too Nippo (9 October 2026) reports that Hirosaki police announced on the 8th that a man in his 40s living in Aomori Prefecture had been defrauded of ¥720,000 in cash in a special-fraud case conducted through a video, generated with artificial intelligence, in which a real celebrity recommended investing. In about mid-July he was led from a TikTok investment advertisement that impersonated a celebrity to groups on LINE and on the messaging app Signal, bought shares that were recommended to him and actually made a profit.

The payment. A LINE account then proposed that he could profit by installing an investment app in which AI would automatically buy profitable shares while he handled the selling himself, and by depositing money. He transferred a total of ¥720,000 from a convenience-store ATM to a designated account. The app's claim to use AI is part of the fraudster's pitch and is not treated in this record as AI involvement.

Discovery. The app then bought shares worth more than his holdings without his instruction and demanded that he pay the shortfall. He asked an AI, which pointed out the possibility of fraud, and he realised he had been defrauded. The report does not name the AI he consulted.

What is not established. The celebrity depicted, the tool used and how the police established that the video was AI-generated are not stated; the year of the mid-July contact is not printed and is taken from the report's 9 October 2026 dateline (Japanese reports omit the current year); where he made the transfer and whether any money was recovered are not reported.

Reported harm

According to Hirosaki police as reported by Too Nippo, a man in his 40s was drawn by a TikTok advertisement using an AI-generated video of a real celebrity recommending investment into a fraudulent investment scheme and transferred ¥720,000 to the fraudsters.

Outcome

Unknown

Hirosaki police announced the case on 8 October 2026 as a special-fraud (tokushu sagi) loss. The inspected report describes no arrest, no identified perpetrator and no recovery of the money.

What remains unknown

  • The celebrity depicted in the video and the tool used to generate it
  • How the police established that the video was AI-generated
  • The year of the mid-July contact, which the report does not print (taken from its 9 October 2026 dateline)
  • Where he viewed the advertisement and made the transfer
  • Whether any perpetrator has been identified or any money recovered
  • Which AI he consulted when he realised the fraud

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Too Nippo reports Hirosaki police as saying the man was defrauded of ¥720,000 through a video, generated with artificial intelligence, of a real celebrity recommending investment ('人工知能（AI）で生成された実在する著名人が投資を勧める動画を介し'), and that he was led from a TikTok investment advertisement impersonating a celebrity into the LINE and Signal groups where the fraud proceeded. The AI-generated video impersonated a celebrity toward him (depicted_or_impersonated) and was his route into the scheme in which he paid. The AI description is the police's as reported; the tool, the celebrity and the basis for the police description are not stated. The scheme's 'AI trading app' is a fraud pitch and is not relied on.

3 claims: 3 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported Hirosaki police announced on 8 October 2026 that a man in his 40s living in Aomori Prefecture had been defrauded through a video, generated with AI, of a real celebrity recommending investment; in about mid-July he was led from a TikTok investment advertisement impersonating a celebrity into LINE and Signal groups.

Causal attribution. The police announcement as reported by Too Nippo and relayed by 47NEWS: one origin. How the police established that the video was AI-generated is not stated.

  • toonippo.co.jp(opens in new tab) supports · Japanese
    '弘前署は8日、青森県内在住の40代男性が、人工知能（AI）で生成された実在する著名人が投資を勧める動画を介し、現金72万円をだまし取られる特殊詐欺被害に遭ったと発表した。'; '男性は7月中旬ごろ、TikTok（ティックトック）の著名人をかたる投資広告からLINE（ライン）、メッセージアプリ「Signal」（シグナル）のグループへと誘導され、教えられた優良株を購入したところ、実際に利益を得た。'
  • 47news.jp(opens in new tab) supports · Japanese
    '弘前署は8日、青森県内在住の40代男性が、人工知能（AI）で生成された実在する著名人が投資を勧める動画を介し、現金72万円をだまし取られる特殊詐欺被害に遭ったと発表した。'
Reported After a LINE account proposed an investment app in which AI would buy shares automatically, the man transferred a total of ¥720,000 from a convenience-store ATM to a designated account.

Causal attribution. The police account as reported by Too Nippo; the app's AI claim is the fraudsters' pitch.

  • toonippo.co.jp(opens in new tab) supports · Japanese
    '「AIが利益の出る株を自動的に購入し、売却は自分で行う投資アプリをインストールして入金すれば、利益を得ることができる」と提案された'; 'コンビニエンスストアATMから指定された口座へ現金計72万円を振り込んだ。'
Reported When the app bought shares beyond his holdings and demanded payment of the shortfall, he asked an AI, which pointed out the possibility of fraud, and he realised he had been defrauded.

Causal attribution. The police account as reported by Too Nippo; the AI consulted is not named.

  • toonippo.co.jp(opens in new tab) supports · Japanese
    'その後、アプリ上で保有資産を超える金額の株式を勝手に購入され、不足額の支払いも求められたことから、AIに質問したところ詐欺の可能性を指摘され、被害に気付いた。'

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 the original Japanese on 2026-10-11 (HTTP 200) by the research agent (an AI); English renderings in this record are the research agent's own translations and no human translator reviewed them. Too Nippo newsroom report of the Hirosaki police announcement; full article text inspected. Applies to s1.

Read in the original Japanese on 2026-10-11 (HTTP 200) by the research agent (an AI); English renderings in this record are the research agent's own translations and no human translator reviewed them. 47NEWS page credited to Too Nippo carrying the same lede and a truncated extract; same group as s1. Applies to s2.

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

Affected person: Too Nippo describes him as living in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Event: the report does not say where he viewed the advertisement or made the ATM transfer, so no event country is recorded from his residence; the case was announced by Hirosaki police. No court is involved.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-11: Published as a reported case: Hirosaki police, as reported by Too Nippo, describe a concrete loss of ¥720,000 by one adult man and say the fraud reached him through an AI-generated video of a real celebrity recommending investment, used in a TikTok advertisement that led him into the scheme. The AI description is attributed to the police; the celebrity, the tool and the perpetrators are unknown. The man is described only by age band and prefecture.

People described

A man in his 40s living in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, who followed a TikTok investment advertisement impersonating a celebrity and lost money

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One person: the man in his 40s described by Hirosaki police, who was deceived through the video and paid ¥720,000. No other victim is described. He did not use the tool that generated the video; the AI he later consulted is context and is not counted as the harmful system.

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

Tags

#deepfake#investment-scam#celebrity-impersonation#tiktok#line#japan#aomori

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Hirosaki police (Aomori, Japan) say a man in his 40s lost ¥720,000 to an investment fraud that reached him through an AI-generated celebrity video. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-hirosaki-police-ai-generated-celebrity-investment-video-man-lost-720000-yen

BibTeX

@misc{2026_hirosaki_police_ai_generated_celebrity_investment_video_man_lost_720000_yen,
  title = {Hirosaki police (Aomori, Japan) say a man in his 40s lost ¥720,000 to an investment fraud that reached him through an AI-generated celebrity video},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-hirosaki-police-ai-generated-celebrity-investment-video-man-lost-720000-yen}
}

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