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Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

Taichung, Taiwan: a homeowner who paid a renovation contractor about NT$2.55 million says the construction-progress photos it sent were AI-generated while the house was left full of debris; she has filed a fraud complaint with police, a second homeowner describes similar losses, and the contractor denies using AI images

A homeowner in Taichung's East District hired a renovation business she found through a Facebook fan page to renovate her four-storey house, with work due to start on 20 August 2025 and finish by the end of March 2026 (ETtoday). By the end of March 2026 she had paid NT$2,553,275 while the contractor cited repeated reasons for delay and sent progress photos and payment slips for materials. She became suspicious when an air-conditioning supplier named on one of the contractor's payment slips said it had not received the payment, compared the photos with the site, and ran them through an AI-image detection website, which rated them almost entirely (99.9%) AI-generated; the photos showed workers and fittings that did not exist, and the house was left gutted with construction waste piled on the ground floor (TVBS; CTS; ETtoday). She has reported it to police and, with a lawyer, filed a fraud complaint. A second homeowner in Dali District paid more than NT$2 million to the same contractor, did not receive AI images, and says the business's fan page used AI-generated pictures; CTS reports three victims so far. A designer at the business denied to TVBS that it used AI images to report false progress, and ETtoday reports prosecutors and police are investigating.

AI system
Unidentified image tool (suspected)
Occurred
1 Jul 2025 to 30 Apr 2026
Reported
29 September 2026
Event location
Taiwan
What the AI did
Relation unknown
Reported harm
Financial LossProperty Loss
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Finance · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources
6 claims: 6 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 3 people

AI system as recorded: Construction-progress photos and Facebook advertising images that the homeowner and a housing consumer group say were AI-generated (an online AI-image detector rated the progress photos 99.9% AI); the contractor denies it; no tool identified

What Happened

The renovation. ETtoday (29 September 2026), whose reporter visited the house, reports that the homeowner wanted to renovate her roughly 30-ping, four-storey house in Taichung's East District and contacted a renovation business through its Facebook fan page; the man she dealt with said the job could be done for NT$3 million, and no full contract was signed. Work was to start on 20 August 2025 and finish by the end of March 2026. TVBS says she commissioned the work in July 2025, and CTS says she found the business in August 2025. Citing materials and labour, the contractor showed payment slips claiming orders had been placed with suppliers and sent realistic progress photos, asking for successive payments; it cited exterior waterproofing, a delayed electricity-meter application, a plumber called to another job and family illness for the delays. By the end of March 2026 she had paid NT$2,553,275 (ETtoday; SETN).

The photos. In April 2026 she called suppliers directly and learned they had not been paid. CTS reports that the progress photos showed wall chiselling, a distribution box on the floor with pipes and two workers, while the real wall had no marks and the box was still on the wall; she used AI-detection software and found the workers had been drawn in by AI. TVBS reports a detection website rated the photos about 99.9% AI-generated, and the head of the Housing Consumer Protection Association pointed to mismatched conduits and fittings. The house was left gutted with construction waste, some of it apparently from another job, on the ground floor (ETtoday; TVBS). ETtoday adds that she found the business's polished Facebook design portfolio was mostly copied from Japanese websites or AI-generated.

Other homeowners and response. A second homeowner, whose house is in Dali District and who lives next to the site, paid NT$1.88 million by transfer and about NT$280,000 in cash; she did not receive AI images but says the fan page photos were AI-generated (TVBS), and the contractor signed a settlement and issued promissory notes that bounced (ETtoday). CTS says three victims have been found. A designer at the business, reached by TVBS, denied using AI images to report false progress; CTS's reporter got a refusal to answer. A lawyer says the use of AI images to obtain payment may amount to aggravated fraud. ETtoday reports that prosecutors and police are investigating.

Reported harm

A homeowner says she paid about NT$2.55 million to a renovation contractor that kept her paying with what she and a consumer group say were AI-generated progress photos, while her house was left gutted and full of debris; a second homeowner lost more than NT$2 million to the same business (ETtoday; TVBS; CTS). The contractor denies using AI images.

Outcome

Ongoing

The East District homeowner reported the case to police and engaged a lawyer to file a fraud complaint (TVBS; CTS). A lawyer with the Housing Consumer Protection Association says the conduct may amount to aggravated fraud under Article 339-4 of the Criminal Code (ETtoday; SETN). ETtoday reports the case is under investigation by prosecutors and police, who are trying to combine related complaints. The second homeowner says the contractor signed a settlement and issued promissory notes for more than NT$2 million that later bounced (ETtoday). A designer at the business denied using AI images to report false progress (TVBS; CTS).

What remains unknown

  • Whether the progress photos were in fact AI-generated; the evidence reported is an online detector result and visual comparison, and the contractor denies it.
  • Which tool made the images.
  • Whether the third victim reported by CTS received AI images.
  • The outcome of the police and prosecutors' investigation.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: suspected. The homeowner says an AI-image detection website rated the contractor's progress photos about 99.9% AI-generated, and she and the Housing Consumer Protection Association point to workers and fittings that do not match the house (TVBS; CTS; ETtoday). The outlets describe the photos as suspected AI composites, and a designer at the business denied using AI images (TVBS). No forensic analysis by police is reported. The images were sent by the contractor; they depict the property, not the homeowner, and no source shows an AI system communicating with her, so the relation is recorded as unknown.

6 claims: 6 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported A homeowner in Taichung's East District hired a renovation business found through a Facebook fan page; work was due to start on 20 August 2025 and finish by the end of March 2026.

Causal attribution. Homeowner's account.

Reported By the end of March 2026 she had paid NT$2,553,275 while the contractor sent progress photos and payment slips and repeatedly delayed; the house was left gutted with construction waste on the ground floor.

Causal attribution. Homeowner's account and the reporters' observation of the house (ETtoday photographed the site).

Reported She says the progress photos were AI-generated: an AI-image detection website rated them about 99.9% AI, and they showed workers and fittings that did not match the house.

Causal attribution. Homeowner's detector result and comparison; outlets describe the images as suspected AI composites; no forensic finding by police reported.

Reported A second homeowner in Dali District paid more than NT$2 million to the same contractor; she did not receive AI images but says the business's fan page photos were AI-generated. CTS reports three victims so far.

Causal attribution. Second homeowner's account (TVBS); victim count from CTS.

  • news.tvbs.com.tw(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '另一名屋主C小姐同樣受害，她轉帳188萬元，又面交28萬多元，總計付出200多萬元。'; '雖然業者沒有傳AI圖給她，但她後來查看粉絲專頁，發現上面的照片都是AI合成。'
  • news.cts.com.tw(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '還發現目前受害已經有三人。'
Reported A designer at the business denied using AI images to report false progress.

Causal attribution. Contractor's response as reported.

Reported She has reported the case to police and filed a fraud complaint; ETtoday reports prosecutors and police are investigating and trying to combine related complaints.

Causal attribution. Homeowner's statement and ETtoday's report of the investigation.

Sources

4 sources inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read live in Traditional Chinese on 2026-10-01 (ETtoday 房產雲, reporter's own visit and interviews, 29 September 2026). Researcher translation. Applies to s1.

Read live in Traditional Chinese on 2026-10-01 (TVBS, 29 September 2026; includes a call to the contractor). Researcher translation. Applies to s2.

Read live in Traditional Chinese on 2026-10-01 (CTS, 29 September 2026; includes the contractor's refusal). Researcher translation. Applies to s3.

Read live in Traditional Chinese on 2026-10-01 (SETN 富房網, 29 September 2026; images credited to the Housing Consumer Protection Association). Researcher translation. Applies to s4.

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

Both houses are in Taichung (East District and Dali District), Taiwan, and the contractor operates in the Taichung-Changhua-Nantou area (ETtoday; TVBS). No court ruling is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-01: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an adverse consumer experience in which allegedly AI-generated progress photos were used to keep a homeowner paying for unperformed work. The account is the homeowners' and the Housing Consumer Protection Association's, reported by ETtoday, TVBS, CTS and SETN; AI involvement is suspected and denied by the contractor. Homeowners appear only by initials in the sources and are not identified here; the contractor and designer are not named.

People described

Homeowners in Taichung, Taiwan, who paid the same renovation contractor (three according to CTS; two described, in East District and Dali District); identified in reports only by initials

People reported harmed in this case

At least 3 people

0 AI participants · 3 other people harmed

CTS reports three victims so far who plan a joint complaint ('目前已經累積三名受害者'); two are described with their payments, the East District homeowner (NT$2,553,275) and the Dali District homeowner (more than NT$2 million) (ETtoday; TVBS). Documented minimum 3.

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

Tags

#ai-generated-images#renovation-fraud#consumer-fraud#facebook#taiwan#taichung#police-report

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Taichung, Taiwan: a homeowner who paid a renovation contractor about NT$2.55 million says the construction-progress photos it sent were AI-generated while the house was left full of debris; she has filed a fraud complaint with police, a second homeowner describes similar losses, and the contractor denies using AI images. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-taichung-renovation-contractor-suspected-ai-progress-photos-homeowners

BibTeX

@misc{2026_taichung_renovation_contractor_suspected_ai_progress_photos_homeowners,
  title = {Taichung, Taiwan: a homeowner who paid a renovation contractor about NT\$2.55 million says the construction-progress photos it sent were AI-generated while the house was left full of debris; she has filed a fraud complaint with police, a second homeowner describes similar losses, and the contractor denies using AI images},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-taichung-renovation-contractor-suspected-ai-progress-photos-homeowners}
}

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