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Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

Nigeria: police say a suspect arrested in Lagos used AI voice cloning and deepfake technology to impersonate Elon Musk to victims of an investment scheme

The Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) said at a press briefing in Abuja on Friday 23 October 2026 that its operatives arrested three suspects in Lekki, Lagos State, on 14 October over alleged identity theft, investment fraud and money laundering. According to the centre's director, the suspects allegedly operated fake social media accounts impersonating prominent personalities to trick victims into transferring money, and were linked to a cryptocurrency investment scheme promoted through a website called Bitcoin Trading Hub. Investigators said one of the suspects used artificial intelligence voice cloning and deepfake technology to impersonate Tesla chief executive Elon Musk and communicate with victims, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. The police did not say how they established the AI use or which tools were involved, how many people were deceived or how much they lost. Seized devices were undergoing forensic examination to identify victims and trace the proceeds, and the three suspects remained in custody.

AI system
Unidentified voice-cloning and deepfake tool
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
24 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
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
5 claims: 5 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

AI system as recorded: Artificial intelligence voice cloning and deepfake technology used to impersonate Elon Musk in contacts with victims, according to the NPF-NCCC investigators (tools not identified)

What Happened

The police briefing. The Director of the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC), Assistant Inspector-General of Police Akaninyene Ezima, announced on Friday 23 October 2026 in Abuja the arrest of nine suspects in three separate operations over alleged online investment fraud, romance scams, identity theft, sextortion and money laundering. This record covers only the third operation.

The Lekki arrests. Operatives arrested three suspects in Lekki, Lagos State, on 14 October 2026 over alleged identity theft, investment fraud and money laundering. According to the director, the suspects allegedly operated fake social media accounts to impersonate prominent personalities and trick victims into transferring money, and they were linked to a cryptocurrency investment scheme promoted through a website identified as Bitcoin Trading Hub.

The AI use, according to investigators. Police investigations linked one of the suspects to impersonating Tesla chief executive Elon Musk through social media accounts, email addresses and messaging platforms. Investigators said he used artificial intelligence voice cloning and deepfake technology to communicate with victims, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. Blueprint's report of the same briefing says he allegedly used the technology to impersonate Musk across Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, X and other platforms.

What is not known. The police did not say how they established the AI use or which tools were used, how many people were deceived, how much they lost, or when the scheme began. The seized devices were undergoing forensic examination to identify victims and trace the proceeds. No reaction from Elon Musk or his companies is reported.

Reported harm

According to the Nigeria Police Force cybercrime centre, suspects arrested in Lagos tricked victims into transferring money through fake accounts impersonating prominent people, and one of them used AI voice cloning and deepfake technology to impersonate Elon Musk to victims, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom; the number of victims and their losses are not stated.

Outcome

Ongoing

NPF-NCCC operatives arrested three suspects in Lekki, Lagos State, on 14 October 2026; the centre's director announced the arrests on 23 October and said the suspects remained in custody while seized devices underwent forensic examination to identify victims and trace the proceeds. No charge or court proceeding has been reported.

What remains unknown

  • How many people were deceived by the AI impersonation and how much they lost.
  • Which AI tools were used and how investigators established their use.
  • When the scheme began and whether any suspect has been charged.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The investigating NPF-NCCC officers, relayed by Crime Fighters and Blueprint from the director's press briefing, say one of the suspects arrested in Lekki used artificial intelligence voice cloning and deepfake technology to impersonate Elon Musk and communicate with victims, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom, as part of fake accounts used to trick victims into transferring money. The police do not disclose how they established the AI use or which tools were used, and they give no account of what a particular victim saw or heard.

5 claims: 5 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The NPF-NCCC director said at a press briefing on Friday 23 October 2026 that the centre had arrested nine suspects in three operations, including three suspects arrested in Lekki, Lagos State, on 14 October 2026 over online impersonation and cryptocurrency investment fraud.

Causal attribution. Police press briefing relayed by two outlets; one origin.

  • crimefightersng.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    In the third operation, three suspects were arrested in Lekki, Lagos State, on October 14, 2026, over online impersonation and fraudulent cryptocurrency investment activities.
  • blueprint.ng(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The Director of the NPF-NCCC, Assistant Inspector-General of Police Akaninyene Ezima, disclosed this on Friday in Abuja
Reported According to the director, the Lekki suspects allegedly operated fake social media accounts to impersonate prominent personalities and trick victims into transferring money.

Causal attribution. Harm as alleged in the police account; victims and losses are not quantified.

  • blueprint.ng(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Ezima said the suspects allegedly operated fake social media accounts to impersonate prominent personalities and trick victims into transferring money.
Reported Investigators said one of the Lekki suspects used artificial intelligence voice cloning and deepfake technology to impersonate Elon Musk and communicate with victims, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Causal attribution. AI attribution by the investigating police as relayed by two outlets of one briefing; technical basis and tools undisclosed.

  • crimefightersng.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Investigators said he used artificial intelligence voice cloning and deepfake technology to communicate with victims, particularly in the United States and United Kingdom.
  • blueprint.ng(opens in new tab) supports · English
    allegedly used artificial intelligence voice cloning and deepfake technology to impersonate Tesla CEO Elon Musk across Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, X and other platforms.
Reported The police linked the Lekki suspects to a cryptocurrency investment scheme operating through a website or platform identified as Bitcoin Trading Hub.

Causal attribution. Police account; one origin.

  • crimefightersng.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The suspects were also linked to an investment scheme operating through a platform identified as Bitcoin Trading Hub.
  • blueprint.ng(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The suspects were also linked to an alleged cryptocurrency investment scam promoted through a website identified as Bitcoin Trading Hub.
Reported The police said the seized devices were undergoing forensic examination to identify victims and trace the proceeds of crime, and that the three suspects remained in custody.

Causal attribution. Procedural facts from the police account.

  • crimefightersng.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The police said the recovered devices were undergoing forensic examination to identify victims, trace the proceeds of crime and establish whether other individuals were involved.
  • blueprint.ng(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The Centre’s boss said the digital exhibits were undergoing forensic examination, while the three suspects remained in custody.

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 English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-25; no translation needed. Crime Fighters report of 24 Oct 2026 (11:57) relaying the NPF-NCCC director's press briefing of Friday 23 Oct; HTTP 200. Applies to s1.

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-25; no translation needed. Blueprint report of 24 Oct 2026 relaying the same press briefing as s1, so it is not independent; HTTP 200. Applies to s2.

Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: United States, United Kingdom. Court countries: Unknown.

The police say the AI impersonation was used to communicate with victims particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom, so those are recorded as affected-person countries; other victims' countries are not stated. The suspects were arrested in Lekki, Lagos State, Nigeria, but the sources do not say where the impersonation was carried out, so no event country is recorded. No court proceeding is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-25: Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): the investigating Nigerian police say a suspect used AI voice cloning and deepfake technology to impersonate Elon Musk to victims, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom, within fake-account schemes that tricked victims into transferring money. The attribution's technical basis is undisclosed and victims are unquantified. The private suspects are not named.

People described

People, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom, whom the police say the suspects tricked into transferring money through fake accounts impersonating prominent personalities, including an AI voice-cloned and deepfake Elon Musk; their number and losses are not stated

People reported harmed in this case

Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

The police speak of victims, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom, without a number for this operation, and say forensic examination of the seized devices is meant to identify victims. No person is counted. Elon Musk, whose likeness and voice were imitated, is not counted because no response or consequence for him is reported.

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

Tags

#voice_cloning#deepfake#celebrity_impersonation#investment_fraud#police_statement

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Nigeria: police say a suspect arrested in Lagos used AI voice cloning and deepfake technology to impersonate Elon Musk to victims of an investment scheme. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-lagos-nigeria-police-say-suspect-used-ai-voice-cloning-and-deepfakes-to-impersonate-elon-musk-to-investment-fraud-victims

BibTeX

@misc{2026_lagos_nigeria_police_say_suspect_used_ai_voice_cloning_and_deepfakes_to_impersonate_elon_musk_to_investment_fraud_victims,
  title = {Nigeria: police say a suspect arrested in Lagos used AI voice cloning and deepfake technology to impersonate Elon Musk to victims of an investment scheme},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-lagos-nigeria-police-say-suspect-used-ai-voice-cloning-and-deepfakes-to-impersonate-elon-musk-to-investment-fraud-victims}
}

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