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Medium News report Investigation Opened

Kazakhstan: the Prosecutor General's Office reported 119 trading-fraud cases registered in about six weeks, lured by deepfake videos of Elon Musk, Pavel Durov and other public figures and fake 'AI' platforms; a Taldykorgan woman transferred more than 7 million tenge

On 16 September 2026 the Prosecutor General's Office of Kazakhstan warned of an investment-fraud scheme in which criminals advertise non-existent projects on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and other platforms using deepfake videos of well-known people and fake 'AI' investment platforms promising very high passive income: 'Kaspi AI' with Mikhail Lomtadze, 'Quantum AI' with Elon Musk, 'TON' with Pavel Durov, and 'people's investments' in KazMunayGas or Gazprom fronted by news presenters from Khabar 24, KTK and Channel One. The office said 119 such cases had been registered across the country in the previous one and a half months. Its example: in September 2026 a woman from Taldykorgan saw an Instagram advertisement offering high returns from share trading, left her details through the link, was contacted by the fraudsters and, following their instructions, transferred more than 7 million tenge to third-party accounts; the money and supposed dividends appeared in a fake wallet that she could not withdraw from. A pre-trial investigation is under way. The office urged people not to trust guaranteed-return offers or transfer money to strangers.

AI System

Deepfake videos of public figures (Elon Musk, Pavel Durov, Mikhail Lomtadze, television news presenters) and fake 'AI' investment platforms ('Quantum AI', 'Kaspi AI'); generation tools not identified

Occurred

1 Aug 2026 to 16 Sept 2026

Reported

16 September 2026

Event location

Kazakhstan

Platform

other

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The Prosecutor General's Office describes the scheme's lure as deepfake videos of celebrities and fake 'AI' platforms placed on social networks; no technical verification is published, and the statement does not say whether the Taldykorgan woman's Instagram advertisement was itself a deepfake. The AI artifacts depicted and impersonated public figures; the victims' dealings were with human fraudsters.

AI-to-person relation

  • Depicted or impersonated the person

Core relations are communication, acting on someone’s behalf, and depiction or impersonation. Decision and claim relations are retained as contextual cases.

Someone else’s AI use. Settings: Finance, Everyday life.

Claim status: Reported

The Prosecutor General's Office said that in the previous one and a half months 119 cases of fraud had been registered in Kazakhstan in a scheme that lures victims through social-media deepfake videos of celebrities and fake 'AI' investment platforms (named examples: 'Kaspi AI' with Mikhail Lomtadze, 'Quantum AI' with Elon Musk, 'TON' with Pavel Durov, 'people's investments' fronted by television news presenters).

Causal attribution: Single official statement relayed by five outlets; the 119 figure is a count of registered cases, and the deepfake description is the office's characterisation of the scheme.

  • News report (supports): "Только за последние полтора месяца по стране было зарегистрировано 119 таких фактов"; "создают дипфейк-видео со знаменитостями и фейковые ИИ-платформы, обещающие сверхвысокий пассивный доход".
  • News report (supports): "В Казахстане за последние полтора месяца зарегистрировали 119 случаев мошенничества под видом трейдинга с использованием дипфейков, сообщили в Генеральной прокуратуре".
  • News report (supports): "По информации Генпрокуратуры, только за последние полтора месяца по стране зарегистрировано 119 таких фактов".
  • News report (supports): "Только за последние полтора месяца в стране зарегистрировали 119 фактов мошенничества".

Claim status: Reported

In September 2026 a woman from Taldykorgan reported large-scale fraud: after an Instagram advertisement offering super-profits from share trading she left her details, was contacted by the fraudsters and on their instructions transferred more than 7 million tenge to third-party accounts; the money and supposed dividends showed in a fake wallet she could not cash out; a pre-trial investigation is under way.

Causal attribution: The office's account of one registered case, given as an example of the scheme; whether the advertisement she saw was a deepfake video is not stated.

  • News report (supports): "В сентябре текущего года жительница Талдыкоргана обратилась с заявлением по факту мошенничества в особо крупном размере"; "перевела на счета 3-их лиц более 7 млн"; "По указанному факту проводится досудебное расследование".
  • News report (supports): "Одной из жертв мошенников стала жительница Талдыкоргана"; "Перечисленные ею деньги и якобы дивиденды отображались в фейковом кошельке, однако возможность их обналичить мошенники не предоставили. По указанному факту проводится досудебное расследование".
  • News report (supports): "Более 7 млн тенге перевела злоумышленникам жительница Талдыкоргана, поверив в рекламу о сверхприбыли от трейдинга"; "Вывести средства женщина не смогла".
  • News report (supports): "она перевела на счета третьих лиц более 7 млн тенге".

What remains unknown

  • Whether the Instagram advertisement seen by the Taldykorgan woman was itself a deepfake video or a fake 'AI platform' page.
  • The number of victims and total losses across the 119 registered cases; the exact period ('the last one and a half months' before mid-September 2026).
  • Whether any suspects have been identified or funds recovered.
  • The Prosecutor General's original release text was not reached (gov.kz is JavaScript-only to this host); the record relies on five press relays of the press service.
Source reading, translation and location

News report · ru · Source inspected

Read in Russian on 2026-09-19 (Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, Dana Amenova, 16 Sep 2026), citing the Prosecutor General's press service; quotations in this record are the reviewer's translations from the Russian body.

This source shares an underlying account with another listed source.

News report · ru · Source inspected

Read in Russian on 2026-09-19 (Informburo.kz, 16 Sep 2026). Same Prosecutor General statement, with the office's quoted description of the Taldykorgan case.

This source shares an underlying account with another listed source.

News report · ru · Source inspected

Read in Russian on 2026-09-19 (Tengrinews, 16 Sep 2026). Same statement; carries the office's quoted sentence on the fake wallet and the pre-trial investigation.

This source shares an underlying account with another listed source.

News report · ru · Source inspected

Read in Russian on 2026-09-19 (Kazlenta.kz, 16 Sep 2026, the earliest report found). Same statement.

This source shares an underlying account with another listed source.

News report · ru · Source inspected

Read in Russian on 2026-09-19 (Kursiv Media, 16 Sep 2026). Same statement.

This source shares an underlying account with another listed source.

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

Nationwide registrations in Kazakhstan per the Prosecutor General's Office; the identified victim lives in Taldykorgan (Zhetysu region). No court proceeding reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-19: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an impersonation-fraud series with an official source: the Prosecutor General's Office reports 119 registered cases in about six weeks lured by deepfake celebrity videos and fake 'AI' platforms, and one identified anonymous victim who lost more than 7 million tenge. Five Russian-language bodies read, all relaying one official statement (claims reported); person count kept to the one identified victim plus unquantified others.

What Happened

According to the Prosecutor General's Office press service, as relayed by Kazpravda, Informburo.kz, Tengrinews, Kazlenta and Kursiv: to attract victims the fraudsters use popular social networks, including TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, where they place deepfake videos of celebrities and fake AI platforms promising super-high passive income, for example 'Kaspi AI' with Mikhail Lomtadze, 'Quantum AI' with Elon Musk, 'TON' with Pavel Durov, and 'people's investments' in KazMunayGas or Gazprom presented by well-known news anchors of Khabar 24, KTK and Channel One. In the last one and a half months alone 119 such cases were registered nationwide. In September 2026 a resident of Taldykorgan filed a report of fraud on an especially large scale: browsing Instagram she saw an advertisement offering super-profits from trading (buying and selling shares), followed the link and left an application with her personal and contact details; the criminals then contacted her and, following their instructions, she transferred more than 7 million tenge to the accounts of third parties. The transferred money and supposed dividends were displayed in a fake wallet, but the fraudsters gave her no way to cash out. A pre-trial investigation is being conducted. The office's appeal asks citizens not to trust offers of guaranteed high returns, to check companies and projects before investing, and not to share card details or SMS codes. The statement does not say whether the advertisement this woman saw was itself a deepfake video, and does not give a count of victims or losses across the 119 cases.

Reported harm

A woman in Taldykorgan transferred more than 7 million tenge to fraudsters after an Instagram trading advertisement and could not withdraw the supposed returns; the Prosecutor General's Office registered 119 such fraud cases nationwide in about six weeks, in a scheme whose lure is deepfake celebrity videos and fake 'AI' platforms.

Financial Loss

Outcome

Ongoing

Prosecutor General's Office public warning reported on 16 September 2026 by Kazlenta (12:54), Tengrinews, Informburo, Kursiv and Kazpravda. A pre-trial investigation into the Taldykorgan report of large-scale fraud is under way. No arrests or recoveries are reported.

People described

People across Kazakhstan who responded to social-media trading advertisements (119 registered cases, no person count); one identified woman in Taldykorgan, not named

People reported harmed in this case

At least 1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

Additional affected people are described without a reliable count.

One identified victim (the Taldykorgan woman, more than 7 million tenge). The 119 figure counts registered fraud cases ('фактов'), not people, so the remaining victims are unquantified. One counted plus unquantified others: partial.

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-fraud#trading-scam#fake-ai-platform#kazakhstan#prosecutor-general#financial-loss#instagram

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Kazakhstan: the Prosecutor General's Office reported 119 trading-fraud cases registered in about six weeks, lured by deepfake videos of Elon Musk, Pavel Durov and other public figures and fake 'AI' platforms; a Taldykorgan woman transferred more than 7 million tenge. NOPE: AI and people. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-kazakhstan-deepfake-celebrity-trading-fraud-series

BibTeX

@misc{2026_kazakhstan_deepfake_celebrity_trading_fraud_series,
  title = {Kazakhstan: the Prosecutor General's Office reported 119 trading-fraud cases registered in about six weeks, lured by deepfake videos of Elon Musk, Pavel Durov and other public figures and fake 'AI' platforms; a Taldykorgan woman transferred more than 7 million tenge},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {NOPE: AI and people},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-kazakhstan-deepfake-celebrity-trading-fraud-series}
}

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