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Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

Keraniganj, Bangladesh: a 22-year-old expatriate in Italy and his mother lost about Tk 7 lakh to a man who ran a Facebook page with AI-made photos and videos of a woman in army uniform and talked to him in a woman's voice; PBI arrested the man in September 2026

The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) Dhaka District said at a press briefing on 27 September 2026 that a man had run a Facebook page called 'Lady Soldier' that posted AI-made photos and videos of a woman in Bangladesh Army uniform. Through the page he built a romantic relationship with a 22-year-old man from Keraniganj who lives in Italy, speaking to him in a woman's voice on Messenger and Imo calls. According to PBI, about Tk 7 lakh was taken in instalments through bKash and Nagad from the young man in Italy and from his mother in Bangladesh, partly by citing the accused's own mother's illness. His mother first filed a complaint case in court, and a case was then filed at Keraniganj Model police station on 10 September. PBI arrested a 35-year-old man in Dhaka on 20 September and seized three phones. PBI says he gave a confessional statement in court on 23 September.

AI system
Unidentified image and video tool
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
27 September 2026
Event location
Bangladesh, Italy
What the AI did
Relation unknown
Reported harm
Financial Loss
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Relationships · Finance
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
5 claims: 5 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
2 people

AI system as recorded: AI-made photos and videos of a woman in Bangladesh Army uniform posted on a Facebook page called 'Lady Soldier', per PBI Dhaka District; the tool is not named. The voice on calls was the accused's own, per PBI

What Happened

The page and the relationship. At a press briefing at the PBI Dhaka District office on Sunday 27 September 2026, Superintendent of Police M. N. Morshed described the case. According to PBI, a Facebook page called 'Lady Soldier/Nari Joddha' posted photos and videos of a woman in Bangladesh Army uniform. The reports say these were made with AI. The victim, a 22-year-old from Keraniganj who lives in Italy, came into contact with the page. The accused then kept up a romantic relationship with him through Facebook Messenger and voice calls on Imo. PBI says the accused can speak in a woman's voice, so the voice on the calls was his own.

The money. PBI says about Tk 7 lakh was taken at different times through the mobile-money services bKash and Nagad, from the young man in Italy and from his mother in Bangladesh. Part of the money was requested by citing the accused's own mother's illness (Gulf Bangla; DesheBideshe).

Investigation and arrest. The victim's mother first filed a complaint case (CR case) in court. After tracing the mobile-money transactions, a case was filed at Keraniganj Model police station on 10 September, and PBI Dhaka District took it over on 13 September. PBI arrested a 35-year-old man in the Darus Salam area of Dhaka on 20 September and seized three phones and SIMs used for the bKash and Nagad accounts. After one day's remand he gave a confessional statement on 23 September, according to PBI. PBI also says a warrant was outstanding against him in an earlier case in a Kishoreganj court, and that it is checking whether others were involved.

Limits. Both reports read relay the PBI briefing. Neither names the tool used to make the images and videos or says how PBI established that they were AI-made. The dates of the relationship and the payments are not reported.

Reported harm

A young expatriate and his mother lost about Tk 7 lakh to a man who drew him into a romance through a Facebook page posting AI-made photos and videos of a female soldier (PBI Dhaka District, via Gulf Bangla and DesheBideshe).

Outcome

Ongoing

A case was filed at Keraniganj Model police station on 10 September 2026 and taken over by PBI Dhaka District on 13 September. PBI arrested the accused in Darus Salam, Dhaka, on 20 September; a court granted one day's remand on 21 September, and on 23 September he gave a confessional statement under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, according to PBI. PBI says the investigation continues (Gulf Bangla; DesheBideshe).

What remains unknown

  • Which tool made the photos and videos, and how PBI established that they were AI-made.
  • When the relationship began and when the payments were made.
  • Whether other people were targeted through the same page, and whether others were involved, which PBI says it is checking.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. DesheBideshe attributes to PBI Dhaka District the statement that the Facebook page posted photos and videos of a woman in army uniform made with AI technology. Gulf Bangla states the AI use in its lead as an allegation, and its paraphrase of the superintendent's briefing mentions the uniform photos and videos without AI. Neither report names the tool or says how this was established. PBI says the accused spoke in a woman's voice himself. The AI-made material depicted the female-soldier persona the accused presented, no source says whether any real woman's likeness was used, and the victim's conversations were with the accused, so none of the listed relations between an AI system and him is established. The relation is recorded as unknown.

5 claims: 5 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported A Facebook page called 'Lady Soldier' posted AI-made photos and videos of a woman in Bangladesh Army uniform, through which a man built a romantic relationship with a young man from Keraniganj living in Italy.

Causal attribution. PBI Dhaka District account as relayed; how the material was established as AI-made is not reported.

  • deshebideshe.com(opens in new tab) supports · Bangla
    'সামাজিক যোগাযোগমাধ্যম ফেসবুকে ‘লেডি সোলজার/নারী যোদ্ধা’ নামের একটি পেজের মাধ্যমে এআই প্রযুক্তি দিয়ে তৈরি সেনাপোশাক পরা নারী সদস্যের আকর্ষণীয় ছবি ও ভিডিও পোস্ট করা হতো।'; 'ভুক্তভোগী ইতালি প্রবাসী তরুণ'; 'বাড়ি কেরানীগঞ্জে'
  • gulfbangla.com(opens in new tab) supports · Bangla
    'কৃত্রিম বুদ্ধিমত্তা (এআই) ব্যবহার করে বাংলাদেশ সেনাবাহিনীর নারী সদস্যের পোশাক পরা ছবি ও ভিডিও তৈরি করে সামাজিক যোগাযোগমাধ্যমে ব্যবহার করে এক ইতালি প্রবাসীর সঙ্গে প্রেমের সম্পর্ক গড়ে তোলার অভিযোগ উঠেছে।'
Reported The accused spoke to the young man in a woman's voice himself on Messenger and Imo calls.

Causal attribution. PBI investigation findings as relayed.

  • gulfbangla.com(opens in new tab) supports · Bangla
    'নারীর মতো কণ্ঠে কথা বলতে পারেন'; 'পরে ইমোতে নারী কণ্ঠে কথা বলার মাধ্যমে সম্পর্ক বজায় রাখতেন তিনি'
  • deshebideshe.com(opens in new tab) supports · Bangla
    'পুরুষ হলেও নিখুঁতভাবে নারীদের মতো মেহি কণ্ঠে কথা বলতে পারদর্শী'; 'মেসেঞ্জার ও ইমোতে (Imo) ভয়েস কলে'
Reported About Tk 7 lakh was taken at different times through bKash and Nagad from the young man in Italy and his mother in Bangladesh, partly by citing the accused's own mother's illness.

Causal attribution. PBI account of the complaint and the traced transactions; no court finding.

  • deshebideshe.com(opens in new tab) supports · Bangla
    'প্রেমের সুবাদে ইতালিতে থাকা'; 'তাঁর দেশে থাকা মায়ের কাছ থেকে বিভিন্ন সময়ে বিকাশ ও নগদের মাধ্যমে “মায়ের চিকিৎসার” কথা বলে মোট ৭ লাখ টাকা হাতিয়ে নেওয়া হয়'
  • gulfbangla.com(opens in new tab) supports · Bangla
    'তার মায়ের কাছ থেকে বিকাশ ও নগদের মাধ্যমে প্রায় ৭ লাখ টাকা নেওয়া হয়'; 'আসামি নিজের মায়ের অসুস্থতার কথা বলেও বিভিন্ন সময়ে টাকা নেন বলে তদন্তে জানা গেছে'
Reported The young man's mother first filed a complaint case in court; a case was filed at Keraniganj Model police station on 10 September 2026 and taken over by PBI Dhaka District on 13 September.

Causal attribution. PBI account.

  • gulfbangla.com(opens in new tab) supports · Bangla
    'এ ঘটনায় প্রথমে আদালতে সিআর মামলা করেন ভুক্তভোগীর মা।'; 'এর ভিত্তিতে ১০ সেপ্টেম্বর কেরানীগঞ্জ মডেল থানায় মামলা করা হয়। ১৩ সেপ্টেম্বর মামলাটি স্বউদ্যোগে তদন্তের জন্য নেয় পিবিআই ঢাকা জেলা।'
Reported PBI arrested the accused in the Darus Salam area of Dhaka on 20 September 2026, seized three phones, and says he gave a confessional statement under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure on 23 September after one day's remand.

Causal attribution. PBI account at the 27 September briefing.

  • gulfbangla.com(opens in new tab) supports · Bangla
    'এ ঘটনায় গত ২০ সেপ্টেম্বর ঢাকার দারুস সালাম এলাকা থেকে'; 'রিমান্ড শেষে ২৩ সেপ্টেম্বর তিনি আদালতে ফৌজদারি কার্যবিধির ১৬৪ ধারায় স্বীকারোক্তিমূলক জবানবন্দি দিয়েছেন বলে জানিয়েছে পিবিআই'; 'আদালত এক দিনের রিমান্ড মঞ্জুর করেন'
  • deshebideshe.com(opens in new tab) supports · Bangla
    'এ সময় তাঁর কাছ থেকে প্রতারণায় ব্যবহৃত একাধিক সিম ও ৩টি স্মার্টফোন জব্দ করা হয়।'

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 live in Bangla on 2026-10-02 (DesheBideshe, Dhaka, 27 September 2026); relays the PBI Dhaka District press briefing. Researcher translation. Applies to s1.

Read live in Bangla on 2026-10-02 (Gulf Bangla, 28 September 2026, desk report); relays the same PBI briefing with fuller case chronology. Researcher translation. Applies to s2.

Event countries: Bangladesh, Italy. Affected-person countries: Italy, Bangladesh. Court countries: Bangladesh.

PBI says money was taken from the young man in Italy and from his mother in Bangladesh, whose home is in Keraniganj; the accused was arrested in Dhaka and the case is before Bangladeshi police and courts (DesheBideshe; Gulf Bangla). The young man was living in Italy when the money was taken from him and his mother was in Bangladesh, so the event spans both countries; no source states where the accused was when he ran the page.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-02: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a reported adverse experience: a young man and his mother lost money to a romance built through a Facebook page that police say posted AI-made photos and videos of a female soldier. The account is PBI Dhaka District's, relayed by Bangla outlets. The victim, his mother and the accused are not named.

People described

A 22-year-old man from Keraniganj, Dhaka, living in Italy, and his mother in Bangladesh (both named in the sources; not named here)

People reported harmed in this case

2 people

0 AI participants · 2 other people harmed

Two people: the young man in Italy and his mother, from whom PBI says the money was taken (Gulf Bangla; DesheBideshe). Exact 2.

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

Tags

#ai-generated-images#ai-generated-video#fake-persona#romance-scam#facebook#mobile-money#bangladesh#keraniganj#pbi

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Keraniganj, Bangladesh: a 22-year-old expatriate in Italy and his mother lost about Tk 7 lakh to a man who ran a Facebook page with AI-made photos and videos of a woman in army uniform and talked to him in a woman's voice; PBI arrested the man in September 2026. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-keraniganj-italy-based-expatriate-ai-female-soldier-persona-romance-fraud-pbi-arrest

BibTeX

@misc{2026_keraniganj_italy_based_expatriate_ai_female_soldier_persona_romance_fraud_pbi_arrest,
  title = {Keraniganj, Bangladesh: a 22-year-old expatriate in Italy and his mother lost about Tk 7 lakh to a man who ran a Facebook page with AI-made photos and videos of a woman in army uniform and talked to him in a woman's voice; PBI arrested the man in September 2026},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-keraniganj-italy-based-expatriate-ai-female-soldier-persona-romance-fraud-pbi-arrest}
}

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