{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-09-30T05:33:39.564Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"hampton","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":3,"coverage":{"cases":3,"countries":2,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":1,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":2,"contextualRelations":1,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-southampton-choudhury-arrested-after-retrospective-facial-recognition-match-milton-keynes-burglary","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"was working at the home he shares with his parents in Southampton in January","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"handcuffed him and held him in custody for nearly 10 hours before releasing him at 2am.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"On 8 January 2026 Mr Alvi Choudhury was arrested on suspicion of a burglary that had occurred 100 miles away from where he was at the time.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"Choudhury is claiming damages against Thames Valley police and Hampshire constabulary, which executed his arrest.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"But the arresting officers from Hampshire Constabulary didn’t want to know.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Alvi Choudhury was arrested at the home he shares with his parents in Southampton on 8 January 2026 on suspicion of a burglary in Milton Keynes, handcuffed and held in custody for nearly 10 hours until released at 2am. Hampshire Constabulary officers carried out the arrest.","causal_attribution":"Event description only. The account comes from Choudhury and his solicitors through the Guardian, Liberty Investigates and a chambers news post. The Thames Valley Police statement quoted by the Guardian treats the arrest as having happened and apologises for the distress caused. The 8 January date appears only in the chambers post (the Guardian says January)."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Thames Valley police had used automated facial recognition software which matched him with footage of a suspect of a £3,000 burglary 100 miles away in Milton Keynes","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"following a retrospective facial recognition match, and was not influenced by racial profiling.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"A week later, after filing a complaint against Thames Valley Police, he found out the full story: he’d been flagged as a possible suspect by an automated facial recognition system.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"UK police forces use an algorithm procured by the Home Office from Cognitec, a German company.","relation":"context","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Thames Valley Police used automated retrospective facial recognition software that matched Choudhury with CCTV footage of a suspect in the Milton Keynes burglary. Choudhury says he learned about a week after the arrest, after filing a complaint, that an automated facial recognition system had flagged him as a possible suspect.","causal_attribution":"The Guardian bases the match on documents shared by Liberty Investigates, which were not inspected. The police spokesperson statement quoted in the same report itself refers to a retrospective facial recognition match. The sources do not state which product, version, threshold or match score applied to this search."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Thames Valley police said the decision to arrest Choudhury was made after a human visual assessment as well.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"A Thames Valley police spokesperson denied the arrest was unlawful and said: “While we apologise for the distress caused to the complainant in this case","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Facial matches should be treated as intelligence, not fact, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Thames Valley Police told the Guardian that the decision to arrest was made after a human visual assessment as well as the match, denied that the arrest was unlawful and said it was not influenced by racial profiling, and apologised for the distress caused. The Guardian reports the National Police Chiefs’ Council position that facial matches should be treated as intelligence, not fact.","causal_attribution":"A party statement about its own conduct, relayed by the Guardian. It addresses the arrest decision and gives no detail of the match."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"“I was very angry, because the kid looked about 10 years younger than me,” said Choudhury, who wears a beard.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"He offered evidence of work meetings in Southampton on the day of the crime but he was instead taken into custody.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"But Choudhury said officers at the Hampshire police station laughed when he asked: “Does this look anything like me?”","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"And he said the Thames Valley police officers who arrived to interview him said “they knew I wasn’t the suspect after looking at footage of the suspect and looking at my picture”.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Choudhury says the man in the CCTV footage looked about 10 years younger than Choudhury and had different features, that he offered evidence of work meetings in Southampton on the day of the burglary, that officers at the Hampshire police station laughed when he asked whether the footage looked like him, and that the Thames Valley Police officers who came to interview him said they knew he was not the suspect after looking at the footage and his picture.","causal_attribution":"First-person account relayed by the Guardian. The CCTV footage and the police interview record were not inspected, and no source independent of Choudhury describes the suspect’s appearance or the interview."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Thames Valley police admitted to Choudhury the arrest “may have been the result of bias within facial recognition technology”.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Thames Valley Police wrote to Choudhury, acknowledging that his arrest “may have been the result of bias within facial recognition technology”","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"as the use of facial recognition is already subject to review at a strategic level, I do not feel the need to raise this issue as part of wider organisational learning","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Thames Valley Police wrote to Choudhury that the arrest “may have been the result of bias within facial recognition technology”. An officer also told him that, because facial recognition use is already subject to review at a strategic level, the issue would not be raised as part of wider organisational learning.","causal_attribution":"Quotations from a police letter to Choudhury as relayed by the Guardian and Liberty Investigates. The letter itself was not inspected. The wording is conditional (“may have been”)."},{"id":"c6","status":"disputed","evidence":[{"locator":"“I just assumed that the investigative officer saw that I was a brown person with curly hair and decided to arrest me.”","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"their arrest was based on the investigating officers’ own visual assessment that the individual matched the suspect in CCTV footage","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Confusingly, however, the force concluded that his arrest was not a case of racial profiling, because officers had made their own assessment of the images before arresting him.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Whether the facial recognition match or the officers’ own visual assessment led to the arrest decision, and whether bias in the software contributed, is disputed. Choudhury says he assumed the investigating officer saw a brown person with curly hair and decided to arrest him. Thames Valley Police say the arrest rested on the investigating officers’ own visual assessment following the match and was not influenced by racial profiling, while also acknowledging in writing that the arrest may have been the result of bias within facial recognition technology.","causal_attribution":"Two accounts that conflict on the decisive input to the arrest. Neither the match record nor the officers’ assessment record was inspected."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"His neighbours saw him being led away in handcuffs, his father was very anxious about him being held and he was unable to work the following day, he said.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"He sometimes needs security clearance to work for government clients and he is asked about arrests and said: “This makes me look dodgier and dodgier.”","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Now he has had a second mugshot taken he is afraid the automated system could trigger more wrongful arrests.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"While we apologise for the distress caused to the complainant in this case","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Choudhury reports that neighbours saw him led away in handcuffs, that his father was very anxious about him being held, and that he was unable to work the following day. He says he sometimes needs security clearance to work for government clients, is asked about arrests, and that “This makes me look dodgier and dodgier”, and that he is afraid the automated system could trigger more arrests now that a second mugshot has been taken.","causal_attribution":"First-person account relayed by the Guardian. The police apology for distress caused is the only independent acknowledgement of an effect. No effect on an actual clearance decision is reported."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Choudhury’s mugshot was held on the police system only because he had been wrongly arrested in 2021 when he had been attacked on a night out","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"The police released him with no further action.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"comparing images taken from sources such as social media and CCTV to a database of more than 19m custody images, or mugshots.","relation":"context","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Choudhury’s image was held on the police system only because of an arrest in 2021 that the Guardian describes as wrongful (he had been attacked on a night out) and that ended with police releasing him with no further action.","causal_attribution":"Background as told by Choudhury to the Guardian. The sources do not state in terms that this custody image was the one returned by the search."},{"id":"c9","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Choudhury is claiming damages against Thames Valley police and Hampshire constabulary, which executed his arrest.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"after filing a complaint against Thames Valley Police","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"to pursue a claim for damages against Thames Valley Police for false imprisonment, breach of data protection law, breach of Art 8 ECHR and breach of the Equality Act 2010.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Choudhury filed a complaint against Thames Valley Police and is claiming damages from Thames Valley Police and Hampshire Constabulary. His solicitors have instructed counsel to pursue a claim for damages against Thames Valley Police for false imprisonment, breach of data protection law, breach of Article 8 ECHR and breach of the Equality Act 2010.","causal_attribution":"A complaint and a claim establish only their own existence and the allegations made. No court filing or outcome was found in the inspected sources."},{"id":"c10","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"This is the FR software currently used in the Police National Database (PND) for which the operational use case is Retrospective Facial Recognition (RFR).","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"The FPIR for White subjects (0.04 %) is lower than that for Asian subjects (4.0 %)","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"At a face-match threshold of 0.8:","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"A National Physical Laboratory report for the Home Office and the Office of the Policing Chief Scientific Adviser (dated October 2025) evaluated Cognitec FaceVACS-DBScan ID v5.5, which it describes as the facial recognition software used in the Police National Database for retrospective facial recognition. At a face-match threshold of 0.8 on its test data it found a false positive identification rate of 4.0 % for Asian subjects and 0.04 % for White subjects.","causal_attribution":"The report establishes the evaluation findings on its own test dataset. It does not state which product version, threshold or settings applied to the search in this case."}],"effects":[{"label":"Arrested at home and held in custody for nearly 10 hours after a police retrospective facial recognition match","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"Distress acknowledged by the police, a lost working day and worry about future arrests and security clearance, as reported by Choudhury","claim_id":"c7","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/25/facial-recognition-error-prompts-police-to-arrest-asian-man-for-burglary-100-miles-away","kind":"news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"guardian-liberty-investigates-reporting"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://libertyinvestigates.org.uk/articles/the-rise-of-facial-recognition-policing/","kind":"news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"guardian-liberty-investigates-reporting"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.doughtystreet.co.uk/news/automated-facial-recognition-software-innocent-man-arrested","kind":"organisation_statement","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read through an Internet Archive capture of 22 April 2026 because the site returned HTTP 403 to direct requests.","independence_group":"claimant-legal-team-post"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/693002a4cdec734f4dff4149/1a_Cognitec_NPL_Equitability_Report_October_25.pdf","kind":"official_record","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"npl-evaluation-report"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["justice","privacy"],"unknowns":["Which product, version, face-match threshold and match score the Thames Valley Police search used is not stated. The National Physical Laboratory report evaluates Cognitec FaceVACS-DBScan ID v5.5 (the Police National Database software) at stated thresholds, and the sources do not say those settings applied here.","The documents shared with the Guardian, the police letter to Choudhury, the CCTV footage and the police interview record were not inspected. All account details come from news reports and a chambers post.","Whether the human visual assessment preceded the arrest request, which force made the request and which force made the decision are stated differently by Choudhury, his solicitors and the police, and no record was inspected.","Whether a court claim was filed and the outcome of the complaint and the damages claim are not reported in any inspected source (the latest inspected reports are dated 1 April 2026).","The date 8 January 2026 comes from the news post of the claimant’s counsel (Internet Archive capture). The Guardian says only January. Distances given by outlets differ (100 miles in the Guardian) and are not material.","The burglary, the burglary suspect and any prosecution are not described in the inspected sources."],"geography":{"basis":"The arrest took place at Choudhury’s home in Southampton and the burglary was in Milton Keynes, both placed in England by the Guardian (Thames Valley Police and Hampshire Constabulary are the forces named). No court proceedings are reported, so court countries are unknown.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["GB"],"affected_person_countries":["GB"]},"publication":{"basis":"The Guardian article and the Liberty Investigates April feature were read in full from saved bodies. They come from one Liberty Investigates investigation built on an interview with Choudhury, documents shared with the Guardian and police statements, so they count as one reporting chain. The arrest date comes from the claimant’s counsel and the technical context from the National Physical Laboratory report, cited for its own contents. Claims about the arrest stay at reported status, the decisive causal question is recorded as disputed because Thames Valley Police dispute the causal account, and only the contents of the National Physical Laboratory report are recorded as documented. Choudhury is named because he spoke about the arrest under his own name to the Guardian and Liberty Investigates. The burglary suspect is not named or described beyond the reported age difference.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-29"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Thames Valley Police’s own statement, quoted by the Guardian, refers to a retrospective facial recognition match preceding the arrest, and the Guardian cites documents shared by Liberty Investigates. The police say the arrest decision rested on the investigating officers’ own visual assessment. Choudhury says the footage showed a man who looked about 10 years younger with different features, and that he assumed the investigating officer decided to arrest him because he is a brown person with curly hair. The police also wrote that the arrest may have been the result of bias within the technology. The weight of the match in the arrest decision is disputed. The sources do not identify the product version, threshold or match score.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about"]},"name":"Southampton: Alvi Choudhury arrested at home on suspicion of a Milton Keynes burglary after a police retrospective facial recognition match, held nearly 10 hours, claiming damages","summary":"The Guardian, in a joint report with Liberty Investigates, reported on 25 February 2026 that Alvi Choudhury, a 26-year-old software engineer, was arrested at his home in Southampton in January 2026 on suspicion of a £3,000 burglary in Milton Keynes, about 100 miles away, and held in custody for nearly 10 hours. Thames Valley Police had used automated retrospective facial recognition software, which matched him with CCTV footage of the burglary suspect. Choudhury says the man in the footage looked about 10 years younger and had different features. Thames Valley Police wrote to him that the arrest may have been the result of bias within facial recognition technology, and told the Guardian that the decision rested on the investigating officers’ own visual assessment and was not influenced by racial profiling. Choudhury is claiming damages from Thames Valley Police and Hampshire Constabulary.","incidentDate":"2026-01-08","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-02-25","aiSystem":"Retrospective facial recognition search run by Thames Valley Police (product, version and reference database not stated in the sources)","aiProduct":"Unidentified facial recognition system","aiCompany":"Not stated in the sources for this search (the Guardian says UK police forces use an algorithm procured by the Home Office from Cognitec)","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["loss_of_liberty","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The Guardian reports Choudhury was handcuffed at home, held for nearly 10 hours and released at 2am, and was unable to work the following day. Choudhury says neighbours saw him led away. Thames Valley Police apologised for the distress caused and deny the arrest was unlawful.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"disputed","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One man reported arrested and held. His father, neighbours and the burglary suspect are not counted as harmed.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"GB","platformType":"other","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/25/facial-recognition-error-prompts-police-to-arrest-asian-man-for-burglary-100-miles-away","primarySourceLabel":"The Guardian with Liberty Investigates (25 Feb 2026): Facial recognition error prompts police to arrest Asian man for burglary 100 miles away","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-29T21:15:56.164264+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:54.246626+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["historical-2026"]},{"id":"2025-southampton-uk-reported-ai-celebrity-persona-messages-gift-card-payment","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"doctored images of celebrities such as","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"to unlock a non-existent prize of £500,000 and a Range Rover truck","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"going on for about five months","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"targeted by an army of AI scammers pretending to be A-list stars","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"relentlessly' targeted by AI-generated videos","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"A Southampton resident reported being sent, over about five months, AI-generated or doctored images and videos presenting several celebrity personas, together with a fake prize certificate and a request for an activation fee to unlock a prize of £500,000 and a car.","causal_attribution":"The resident's own account as told to a local news agency and repeated by the other outlets. The outlets reproduce material supplied by the resident and do not report verifying it. The AI generation is the resident's description and the description of a university AI expert who commented on the prize certificate."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"asking me for £200 and saying she loves me","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"paid £200 and I was bitten","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"send £200 worth of non-refundable Apple gift cards to the supposed Hollywood sweetheart","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"sent the money in the form of non-refundable Apple gift cards","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The resident paid £200 in non-refundable Apple gift cards to a persona presented as a celebrity who said she loved the resident and asked for money.","causal_attribution":"The resident's own account. The payment is stated by the resident and repeated by the other outlets. No bank, gift card or platform record was inspected."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"the scams are affecting","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"I can't keep taking that sort of hit","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"mental health and unable to work","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The resident said the scam messages were affecting the resident's mental health and that the resident could not keep taking that sort of hit.","causal_attribution":"The resident's statement. No clinical or other independent source is cited and the outlets do not establish that the messages caused any change in the resident's health."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"uses a neural network-generated image to create a fake prize notification","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"The goal is to get the victim's home address under the guise of \"delivering\" prizes","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"The scammer would input details like the victim's name (obtained from various sources) into an AI model to generate the image","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"A University of Southampton AI expert told the outlets that the messages were a phishing scam using a neural-network-generated prize certificate to obtain personal information such as a home address.","causal_attribution":"The expert's general description of this type of scam. The expert is not reported as having examined the resident's messages beyond the prize certificate described."}],"effects":[{"label":"Resident paid £200 in gift cards to a persona presented as a celebrity after months of AI-generated persona messages","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"Resident said the messages were affecting the resident's mental health","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/25272323.southampton-man-loses-200-ai-facebook-scam/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"resident-own-account-solent-news"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/35655414/jennifer-aniston-love-scam-ai/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read through an Internet Archive capture (about 8,000 characters, complete article text).","independence_group":"resident-own-account-solent-news"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14864301/scammed-hundreds-pounds-AI-deepfake-Jennifer-Aniston.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"resident-own-account-solent-news"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://nypost.com/2025/07/02/us-news/scammed-brit-thought-jennifer-aniston-was-in-love-with-him/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Rewrite that cites The Sun.","independence_group":"resident-own-account-solent-news"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["finance","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["The start date of the messages is not stated. The resident is quoted as saying it had been going on for about five months and no outlet gives the interview date, so the calendar start is not established.","The outlets reproduce material supplied by the resident and none reports verifying the messages, videos or images. No AI tool or account is identified.","The £200 payment and the mental-health effect are the resident's statements. No record was inspected.","The resident said an acquaintance lost over a thousand pounds in gift cards to these scams. No detail or independent source is given, so that person is not counted.","The four outlets appear to share the resident's single interview with a local news agency. Whether the Daily Mail conducted its own interview is not stated, so all outlets are treated as one chain."],"geography":{"basis":"The outlets state the resident is based in Southampton and call the resident a Brit. The messages arrived on Facebook and the country where the resident received them is not stated, so the event country is left unknown. No country is inferred from an outlet.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":["GB"]},"publication":{"basis":"A resident of Southampton described the experience to a local news agency and several outlets repeated it. All claims are attributed to that account. The resident is not named and the celebrities depicted are not named in public fields because none of them spoke about this event. Detail is limited to what states the harm. The start date is not established, so the case is published undated.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-29"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The resident described the videos as AI-generated and a University of Southampton AI expert described the prize certificate as generated by a neural network. No outlet reports verifying the messages or identifies any AI tool. Two of the persona claims (a driving licence image and audio clips) are described by the outlets without an AI attribution specific to them.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Southampton resident reports about five months of AI-generated celebrity persona messages and a £200 gift-card payment","summary":"The Daily Echo (29 June 2025), the Daily Mail (1 July 2025), and The Sun and the New York Post (2 July 2025) reported that a Southampton resident said the resident had been 'relentlessly' sent AI-generated or doctored celebrity images and videos on Facebook for about five months, with a fake prize certificate and requests for an activation fee to unlock a prize of £500,000 and a car. The resident said one persona presented as a celebrity said she loved the resident and asked for money, and that the resident paid £200 in Apple gift cards. The resident also said the messages were affecting the resident's mental health and said an acquaintance had lost over £1,000 to the same kind of scam (second-hand, not counted here). A University of Southampton AI expert described the messages as a phishing scam using an AI-generated prize certificate. All outlets rest on the resident's own account, and none reports verifying the messages. The start date is not established.","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2025-06-29","aiSystem":"Unidentified generative AI image and video tools (reported by the resident and an expert)","aiProduct":"Unidentified image and video tool","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["financial_loss","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The resident reported paying £200 in Apple gift cards to a persona presented as a celebrity, and said the ongoing messages were affecting the resident's mental health. Both statements are the resident's own account. No independent record of the payment or of any health effect was inspected.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"documented_minimum","affectedCountEvidence":"One resident reports paying £200 and reports mental-health effects. An acquaintance reportedly lost over £1,000 to the same kind of scam, stated second-hand by the resident with no detail, so that person is not counted. The celebrities depicted are not reported harmed and are not counted. Other people sent similar messages are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","platformType":"other","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/25272323.southampton-man-loses-200-ai-facebook-scam/","primarySourceLabel":"Daily Echo (Southampton), local report, 29 June 2025","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-29T14:02:51.736649+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:16.316398+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":[]},{"id":"2026-hampton-new-hampshire-ai-deepfake-arrest-video-harassment-charges","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'allegedly harassed a Hampton resident for more than a year through phone calls, texts, emails and online posts'; 'with a stalking order of protection last October.'; 'In November, the victim showed police an AI-generated deepfake video'; 'allegedly created to humiliate and defame him, the affidavit states. The video depicts the victim being arrested and jailed and includes a structure resembling the victim's Hampton residence, as well as images of real people.'; 'Keyser said the events shown in the deepfake \"never happened.\"'; 'posted it on YouTube,'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"According to Hampton police and the arrest-warrant affidavit, the accused harassed a Hampton resident for more than a year through phone calls, texts, emails and online posts, continued after being served with a stalking order of protection in October 2025, and created an AI-generated deepfake video, shown to police by the victim in November 2025, that depicts the victim being arrested and jailed and includes a structure resembling his Hampton residence; police say the depicted events never happened and that the video was posted on YouTube.","causal_attribution":"Police and affidavit account (one chain); the accused's lawyer did not respond and the allegations have not been tried."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'on four felony counts of fraudulent use of deepfakes. He was accused of creating, distributing, and presenting a video of an identifiable person to embarrass, harass, or defame them on Oct. 20, Oct. 31, Nov. 7, and Nov. 13, 2025, in Hampton.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'Each of the four Class B felony counts carries a maximum penalty of up to seven years in state prison'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A Rockingham County grand jury indicted the accused on four felony counts of fraudulent use of deepfakes for creating, distributing and presenting a video of an identifiable person to embarrass, harass or defame on 20 October, 31 October, 7 November and 13 November 2025 in Hampton.","causal_attribution":"Indictment as listed by Patch; Seacoastonline independently reports four Class B felony counts. The indictment text was not read."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'He was taken into custody on March 24, arraigned the next day, and released on bail.'; 'He was arrested again on Aug. 26, Keyser said. His bail was revoked'; 'Keyser said police were able to have the deepfake video'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The accused was taken into custody on 24 March, arraigned the next day and released on bail; after alleged bail violations he was arrested again on 26 August, his bail was revoked and he is held at the Rockingham County House of Corrections; police had the deepfake video removed.","causal_attribution":"Police account as reported. The article gives no year for 24 March and 26 August; its publication on 24 September 2026 and the June 2026 indictment place both in 2026."}],"effects":[{"label":"harassed for more than a year and targeted with a posted AI-generated video falsely showing him being arrested and jailed, which police say was made to humiliate and defame him","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/local/2026/09/24/hampton-police-man-charged-ai-deepfake-harassment-campaign/91897502007/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-09-27 in full through the identical Gannett path on eu.seacoastonline.com (www returned 402). Quotes the police sergeant and the arrest-warrant affidavit.","independence_group":"hampton-police-affidavit"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://patch.com/new-hampshire/salem-nh/worcester-man-indicted-hampton-use-deepfakes-charges-rockingham-county","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-27 (Salem NH Patch, 29 June 2026). A roundup of Rockingham County Superior Court indictments; the indictment itself was not read.","independence_group":"rockingham-indictments"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","privacy","justice"],"unknowns":["Which AI tool was used to make the video and how it was established that the video was AI-generated.","How widely the video was seen before removal, and the victim's own account of its effects.","The start date of the harassment ('more than a year') and the nature of the 'perceived past disagreement'.","The accused's plea and any trial date; the indictment text was not read.","Whether the other 'real people' whose images appear in the video were harmed."],"geography":{"basis":"The victim lives in Hampton, New Hampshire and the indicted conduct is placed 'in Hampton' (Patch); the accused lived in Worcester, Massachusetts; the case is in Rockingham County Superior Court (Patch) and he is held at the Rockingham County House of Corrections (Seacoastonline).","court_countries":["US"],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a core case (an AI-generated deepfake depicting a real person in events that did not happen, used in a harassment campaign): Seacoastonline reports the police and affidavit account in detail and Patch separately lists the grand-jury indictment on four deepfake counts. The allegations are untested. The victim is unnamed and the accused is not named here.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-27"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The arrest-warrant affidavit, as reported by Seacoastonline, describes an 'AI-generated deepfake video' of the victim, and the grand jury indicted the man on counts of fraudulent use of deepfakes (Patch). The tool used is not identified and no forensic finding is reported.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Hampton, New Hampshire: police say a Massachusetts man harassed a Hampton resident for more than a year and posted an AI-generated deepfake video showing the resident being arrested and jailed, events police say never happened; he was indicted on four felony counts of fraudulent use of deepfakes and is held after his bail was revoked","summary":"Hampton police say a man from Worcester, Massachusetts harassed a Hampton resident for more than a year through phone calls, texts, emails and online posts, stemming from a perceived past disagreement, and kept going after the victim asked him to stop and after he was served with a stalking order of protection in October 2025. In November 2025 the victim showed police an AI-generated deepfake video that, according to the arrest-warrant affidavit, the man created to humiliate and defame him; it shows the victim being arrested and jailed and includes a structure resembling the victim's Hampton home and images of real people. A police sergeant said the depicted events never happened and that the video was posted on YouTube. A Rockingham County grand jury indicted the man on four Class B felony counts of fraudulent use of deepfakes under RSA 638:26-a, for creating, distributing and presenting a video of an identifiable person on 20 October, 31 October, 7 November and 13 November 2025. He turned himself in on 24 March, was released on bail, was arrested again on 26 August for alleged bail violations and is held at the Rockingham County House of Corrections. Police had the video removed. The AI tool is not named and the victim's own account is relayed only through the police.","incidentDate":"2025-10-20","incidentEndDate":"2025-11-13","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-06-29","aiSystem":"An unnamed generative-AI tool used to make a deepfake video of a real person (Hampton police and arrest-warrant affidavit via Seacoastonline); the tool is not identified","aiProduct":"Unidentified video tool","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["exploitation_or_abuse","reputational_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Police say the victim was harassed for more than a year and targeted with a posted AI-generated video falsely depicting his arrest and jailing, which the affidavit says was made to humiliate and defame him (Hampton police and affidavit via Seacoastonline; indictment via Patch).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One harassed and depicted person, the Hampton resident (Seacoastonline; the indictment counts concern 'an identifiable person', Patch). The 'real people' whose images appear in the video are not counted: no harm to them is reported. Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"US-NH","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"criminal_charges","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/local/2026/09/24/hampton-police-man-charged-ai-deepfake-harassment-campaign/91897502007/","primarySourceLabel":"Seacoastonline (Portsmouth Herald), 24 September 2026: Hampton police: Man charged in AI deepfake harassment campaign","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-27T03:39:38.936126+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:39.330256+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["deepfakes","harassment","stalking","new-hampshire","hampton","criminal-charges","rsa-638-26-a","depicted-or-impersonated"]}]}