Woman in Kansai questioned for about an hour by fake police on phone and Zoom; analysis for Osaka police found the detective's face possibly an AI deepfake

The call. The woman told Yomiuri, Asahi and FNN that in June 2026 (late June, per Asahi) a man introducing himself as an officer of the Aichi police's community safety division called her mobile phone, told her a cash card in her name had been found with an arrested fraud ring and said she was under suspicion. She was passed to a second man, who said he was from the investigation division, and about 45 minutes after she answered was moved to a Zoom call (Asahi). On screen a man in a suit and glasses gave his unit and name and showed a police notebook before his camera went off after about 30 seconds (Asahi). She was told not to tell anyone, asked to show her My Number card and told to search her home for it while on the video call (Asahi). She had recognised the pattern from the news, began recording and decided to pretend to be taken in (Asahi), and ended the exchange after about an hour; Yomiuri gives the video call as lasting an hour and FNN the exchange as over an hour.

Her experience. She told Yomiuri that the caller spoke in a cornering way and that partway through she began to feel as though she were the culprit; she told Asahi the caller was overbearing, that she became quite flustered and that she nearly got drawn in even though she knew it might be fraud; she told FNN the talk left no room to object.

The analysis. The Osaka Prefectural Police published part of the recording on 12 August 2026 as a warning video. The police asked Trend Micro to analyse it, and the result was that the self-described detective's face was possibly a deepfake altered with AI; the police believe the technology was misused so that a fraud-ring member's face would not be known (Yomiuri). NHK and FNN report the same finding as a possibility. No tool is identified and no arrest or loss is reported.

The woman says the hour-long interrogation left her flustered, feeling as if she were a culprit and close to being drawn in, and she was pressed to search her home on camera and give personal information (Yomiuri, Asahi, FNN). No loss is reported.

A fake detective, whose face an analysis for the Osaka police found was possibly altered by AI, questioned the woman on a video call, accused her of involvement in fraud and pressed her to search her home and disclose personal information; she reports feeling cornered and drawn in, and ended the call before any loss.

The woman gave her recording to the Osaka Prefectural Police, which published part of it on 12 August 2026 as a warning video and had it analysed by Trend Micro (Yomiuri, FNN). No arrest or loss is reported in the inspected sources.