{
  "meta": {
    "exportedAt": "2026-09-22T16:02:21.551Z",
    "formatVersion": 2,
    "selection": {
      "q": "immigration",
      "system": "",
      "harm": "",
      "context": "",
      "country": "",
      "role": "",
      "relation": "",
      "evidence": "",
      "year": "",
      "response": "regulatory",
      "severity": "",
      "verification": "",
      "view": "incidents",
      "sort": "added"
    },
    "totalIncidents": 2,
    "coverage": {
      "cases": 2,
      "countries": 2,
      "languages": 1,
      "unknownLocation": 0,
      "locationPending": 0,
      "unknownLanguage": 0,
      "unknownDate": 0,
      "lawsuits": 0,
      "regulatory": 2,
      "minors": 0,
      "coreRelations": 2,
      "contextualRelations": 0,
      "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": "NOPE Incident Tracker",
    "url": "https://nope.net/incidents",
    "license": "CC BY 4.0"
  },
  "incidents": [
    {
      "id": "2026-leal-ai-impersonation-immigration-scam",
      "caseFacts": {
        "claims": [
          {
            "id": "c1",
            "status": "corroborated",
            "evidence": [
              {
                "locator": "'his image and name and even his voice have been cloned with artificial intelligence to deceive desperate immigrants'; 'fake contracts bearing his firm's logo, forged signatures, websites that mimic his site... entirely fabricated immigration hearings'.",
                "relation": "supports",
                "source_id": "s1"
              },
              {
                "locator": "'criminals are creating fake videos using his image, voice and name'; the WhatsApp-to-Zelle/Venmo script.",
                "relation": "supports",
                "source_id": "s2"
              },
              {
                "locator": "'scammers have used AI to produce fake immigration hearings over Zoom to dupe immigrants'.",
                "relation": "supports",
                "source_id": "s4"
              }
            ],
            "assertion": "Criminals used AI to clone Ángel Leal's image, name, voice, signature and firm logo, producing fake videos, look-alike websites, forged contracts and fabricated Zoom hearings that offered immigration services (residency, citizenship 'without an exam', work permits) he never provided.",
            "causal_attribution": "Leal's own account, carried by four independent outlets."
          },
          {
            "id": "c2",
            "status": "corroborated",
            "evidence": [
              {
                "locator": "'some victims end up with deportation orders without having filed any real paperwork, believing their case was in progress'; payments via Zelle/Venmo/Cash App.",
                "relation": "supports",
                "source_id": "s2"
              },
              {
                "locator": "'It's gotten to the point where I literally have one to two people every day, all day, answering calls of people who have been defrauded or scammed'.",
                "relation": "supports",
                "source_id": "s4"
              },
              {
                "locator": "Leal describes the harm to 'other people's needs'; ABA/AILA describe victims paying scammers who impersonated lawyers.",
                "relation": "context",
                "source_id": "s1"
              }
            ],
            "assertion": "Immigrants were defrauded of money paying for services Leal never provided, and some ended up with deportation orders believing their cases were in progress.",
            "causal_attribution": "Reported by Leal and immigration-lawyer groups; individual victims are not named and the total is not quantified."
          },
          {
            "id": "c3",
            "status": "corroborated",
            "evidence": [
              {
                "locator": "'6,454 fake profiles linked to these scams have been taken down' since March.",
                "relation": "supports",
                "source_id": "s2"
              },
              {
                "locator": "'in June alone... they had taken down over 6,600 fake videos and profiles'; 'Leal has filed a report with the Doral Police Department.'",
                "relation": "supports",
                "source_id": "s4"
              }
            ],
            "assertion": "Leal changed his phone number, hired an anti-piracy firm that removed thousands of fake profiles and videos (about 6,454 since March per NBC Miami; more than 6,600 by June per WLRN), and reported the fraud to Doral police and federal authorities.",
            "causal_attribution": "Leal and his anti-piracy vendor, as reported; the two removal figures cover different windows."
          }
        ],
        "effects": [
          {
            "label": "attorney's identity cloned with AI and used to defraud immigrants; reputational harm and business disruption to him, financial and legal harm to victims",
            "claim_id": "c1",
            "direction": "negative"
          }
        ],
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "s1",
            "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/scammers-impersonate-immigration-lawyers-rcna348238",
            "kind": "news_report",
            "access": "read",
            "language": "en",
            "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-17 (datePublished 2026-06-04). NBC News national report; Leal interview, FTC/FBI context, ABA and AILA comment.",
            "independence_group": "nbc"
          },
          {
            "id": "s2",
            "url": "https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/south-florida-immigration-lawyers-identity-cloned-with-artificial-intelligence/3817579/",
            "kind": "news_report",
            "access": "read",
            "language": "en",
            "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-17 (datePublished 2026-06-05). NBC6 South Florida; Leal interview, fake videos and WhatsApp/Zelle scheme; story translated from Spanish with an AI tool and editor-reviewed.",
            "independence_group": "nbcmiami"
          },
          {
            "id": "s3",
            "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/south-florida-immigration-attorney-says-ai-scammers-are-using-his-identity-to-target-immigrants/",
            "kind": "news_report",
            "access": "read",
            "language": "en",
            "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-17 via the Internet Archive capture 20260728171300 (CBS live returns HTTP 406); datePublished 2026-06-09. CBS News Miami; Leal interview, the $2,200 residency-video scheme, ~6,500 profiles removed.",
            "independence_group": "cbsmiami"
          },
          {
            "id": "s4",
            "url": "https://www.wlrn.org/immigration/2026-08-20/abogado-inmigracion-ai-scam-fraud",
            "kind": "news_report",
            "access": "read",
            "language": "en",
            "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-17 (datePublished 2026-08-20). WLRN Public Media; Leal realised the problem last October, one to two defrauded callers a day, 6,600+ removals in June, fake Zoom hearings, Doral police report.",
            "independence_group": "wlrn"
          }
        ],
        "version": 1,
        "ai_roles": [
          "others_use"
        ],
        "contexts": [
          "justice",
          "finance",
          "everyday_life"
        ],
        "unknowns": [
          "No individual defrauded immigrant is named and the total amount lost is not established; the reported per-victim figure (about $4,820/$5,000) comes from a Latin Times headline not inspected in full.",
          "No arrests are reported and no defendant is identified.",
          "Whether the fabricated 'deportation orders' outcome affected specific named people is not established."
        ],
        "geography": {
          "basis": "Event: South Florida (Doral/Miami); Leal practises there and reported to Doral police (WLRN, NBC Miami). Affected people are immigrants in South Florida. No court proceeding established.",
          "court_countries": [],
          "event_countries": [
            "US"
          ],
          "affected_person_countries": [
            "US"
          ]
        },
        "publication": {
          "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an AI-impersonation case with real harm: a named attorney's likeness and voice were cloned to defraud immigrants, causing him reputational and business harm and causing victims financial and reported legal harm. Four independent chains, including his own on-camera interviews; victim count left partial because individual victims are unquantified.",
          "reviewed_on": "2026-09-17"
        },
        "ai_involvement": {
          "basis": "Leal and multiple outlets state that his real videos were manipulated with AI to clone his face and voice; NBC News, NBC Miami, CBS Miami and WLRN carry his account, and an anti-piracy firm documented thousands of AI-generated fake profiles. The specific AI tools are not named.",
          "status": "supported"
        },
        "person_relations": [
          "depicted_or_impersonated"
        ]
      },
      "name": "Miami: scammers cloned immigration attorney Ángel Leal's face and voice with AI to defraud immigrants seeking legal help",
      "summary": "From around October 2025, criminals used AI to clone the image, voice, name, signature and firm logo of Ángel Leal, a long-established immigration attorney in Doral, Florida. They created fake videos, look-alike websites, forged contracts and even fabricated Zoom 'immigration hearings' to persuade immigrants to pay for legal services Leal never provided. Immigrants were defrauded of money, and some believed their cases were progressing when they were not; Leal received one to two defrauded callers a day, changed his phone number, hired an anti-piracy firm that removed thousands of fake profiles and videos, and reported the fraud to local police and federal authorities.",
      "incidentDate": "2025-10-01",
      "incidentKind": "ongoing_experience",
      "incidentDatePrecision": "month",
      "exposurePattern": "repeated_interactions",
      "reportedDate": "2026-06-04",
      "aiSystem": "AI voice- and video-cloning / deepfake tools (not identified in the inspected reporting)",
      "severity": "medium",
      "verificationStatus": "credible",
      "harmCategories": [],
      "harmOutcomes": [
        "reputational_harm",
        "financial_loss",
        "legal_harm"
      ],
      "harmOutcomeSummary": "An immigration attorney's identity was cloned with AI and used to defraud immigrants, causing him reputational harm and business disruption (he changed his phone number and hired an anti-piracy firm) and causing defrauded immigrants financial loss, with some reportedly left facing deportation orders after believing their cases were progressing.",
      "frameworkFacets": [],
      "causationStatus": "supported",
      "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0,
      "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 1,
      "affectedCountStatus": "partial",
      "affectedCountEvidence": "One counted, identified harmed person: Ángel Leal, whose likeness and voice were cloned and whose practice was disrupted. An unquantified additional group of immigrants was defrauded (Leal reports one to two defrauded callers a day; one legal immigrant reportedly lost about $4,820 per a Latin Times headline not inspected in full); no reliable victim count is established, so the status is partial.",
      "victimAgeRange": "adult",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "platformType": "other",
      "outcomeType": "investigation_opened",
      "outcomeStatus": "ongoing",
      "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/scammers-impersonate-immigration-lawyers-rcna348238",
      "primarySourceLabel": "NBC News, 4 June 2026: Scammers impersonate immigration lawyers (Angel Leal interview; FTC/FBI context; ABA/AILA comment)",
      "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-17T03:27:41.533841+00:00",
      "scopeVersion": "facts-v3",
      "tags": [
        "deepfake",
        "voice-clone",
        "impersonation",
        "immigration",
        "fraud",
        "united-states",
        "florida",
        "depicted-or-impersonated"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "2026-kumar-sdt-strike-off-ai-citations",
      "caseFacts": {
        "claims": [
          {
            "id": "c1",
            "status": "documented",
            "evidence": [
              {
                "locator": "SDT judgment, Allegation 2.1 findings and the schedule of false/miscited authorities.",
                "relation": "supports",
                "source_id": "s1"
              },
              {
                "locator": "RollOnFriday's listing of the bogus citations.",
                "relation": "context",
                "source_id": "s4"
              }
            ],
            "assertion": "Allegation 2.1 was found proved: Kumar's 12 March 2026 Answer to the SRA's Rule 12 Statement contained misleading quotations and citations produced with generative AI, including the non-existent 'SRA v Chan [2020] EWHC 1502', the miscited 'SRA v James, MacGregor & Naylor [2018] EWCA Civ 1420' (in reality an IP case) and a misattributed Baxendale-Walker passage.",
            "causal_attribution": "Directly established by the tribunal's written judgment; trade press accounts are consistent."
          },
          {
            "id": "c2",
            "status": "documented",
            "evidence": [
              {
                "locator": "SDT judgment, Allegation 2.2 findings and the 13 April acceptance.",
                "relation": "supports",
                "source_id": "s1"
              }
            ],
            "assertion": "Allegation 2.2 was found proved: his 9 April 2026 email admitting AI use was itself AI-drafted and contained further errors, which he accepted on 13 April 2026.",
            "causal_attribution": "Directly established by the tribunal's written judgment."
          },
          {
            "id": "c3",
            "status": "documented",
            "evidence": [
              {
                "locator": "SDT judgment, sanction and reasoning passages.",
                "relation": "supports",
                "source_id": "s1"
              },
              {
                "locator": "Outer Temple's case note confirming the outcome and the 'first SDT case on a lawyer's use of AI' framing.",
                "relation": "context",
                "source_id": "s5"
              }
            ],
            "assertion": "On 25 August 2026 the SDT struck Kumar off the Register of Foreign Lawyers with culpability 'very high', stating it would have struck him off on either allegation alone; the tribunal invoked Ayinde v Haringey LBC [2025] EWHC 1383 (Admin).",
            "causal_attribution": "Directly established by the tribunal's written judgment; the 'first AI case' framing comes from the SRA's counsel and is attributed."
          },
          {
            "id": "c4",
            "status": "documented",
            "evidence": [
              {
                "locator": "SDT judgment, conviction allegation and sentence passages.",
                "relation": "supports",
                "source_id": "s1"
              },
              {
                "locator": "RollOnFriday's Isleworth Crown Court reference (recorded as a discrepancy; the judgment controls).",
                "relation": "contradicts",
                "source_id": "s4"
              }
            ],
            "assertion": "The parallel ground was his 29 January 2024 conviction under s.21 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 — recorded by the judgment as at the Central Criminal Court (RollOnFriday says Isleworth Crown Court, a discrepancy) — sentenced on 26 April 2024 to a 12-month community order with 150 hours' unpaid work.",
            "causal_attribution": "The conviction ground is established by the judgment; the convicting-court discrepancy across outlets is preserved."
          }
        ],
        "effects": [
          {
            "label": "lawyer struck off after AI-generated false citations in his disciplinary defence",
            "claim_id": "c3",
            "direction": "negative"
          }
        ],
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "s1",
            "url": "https://solicitorstribunal.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/12884-2026-Kumar-.pdf",
            "kind": "tribunal_judgment",
            "access": "read",
            "language": "en",
            "translation_note": "Judgment PDF read on 2026-09-15 (25 Aug 2026): allegations, findings, sanction, panel, and the Ayinde v Haringey invocation.",
            "independence_group": "sdt"
          },
          {
            "id": "s2",
            "url": "https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/lawyer-struck-off-for-using-fake-ai-generated-cases-before-sdt",
            "kind": "trade_press",
            "access": "read",
            "language": "en",
            "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (4 Sep 2026).",
            "independence_group": "legal-futures"
          },
          {
            "id": "s3",
            "url": "https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/foreign-lawyer-produced-ai-generated-false-citations-at-sdt/5127825.article",
            "kind": "trade_press",
            "access": "read",
            "language": "en",
            "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (4 Sep 2026, Hyde).",
            "independence_group": "law-gazette"
          },
          {
            "id": "s4",
            "url": "https://www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/first-lawyer-struck-ai-addiction",
            "kind": "trade_press",
            "access": "read",
            "language": "en",
            "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (11 Sep 2026). Colour and the specific bogus citations; its 'AI addiction' framing is editorial joking, not a finding.",
            "independence_group": "rollonfriday"
          },
          {
            "id": "s5",
            "url": "https://www.outertemple.com/joshua-hitchens-acts-for-the-sra-in-the-first-solicitors-disciplinary-tribunal-case-on-a-lawyers-use-of-ai/",
            "kind": "counsel_case_note",
            "access": "read",
            "language": "en",
            "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (8 Sep 2026). SRA counsel's chambers' note: case number, dates, judgment link, and the 'first SDT case on a lawyer's use of AI' framing; participant-side account, recorded as such.",
            "independence_group": "outer-temple"
          }
        ],
        "version": 1,
        "ai_roles": [
          "own_use"
        ],
        "contexts": [
          "work",
          "justice"
        ],
        "unknowns": [
          "The specific generative AI tool is not named in the inspected accounts.",
          "The convicting court appears as the Central Criminal Court in the judgment and Isleworth Crown Court in RollOnFriday; the judgment controls but the discrepancy is unresolved in the inspected material.",
          "Whether Kumar seeks to appeal the strike-off is not reported.",
          "His employment status after the strike-off is not reported; the Law Gazette's employment background predates it."
        ],
        "geography": {
          "basis": "Events: his practice and the SRA proceedings in England. Affected person: Kumar, on the Register of Foreign Lawyers in England and Wales. Court: the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal; the parallel conviction was at the Central Criminal Court (per the judgment; RollOnFriday's Isleworth Crown Court is a recorded discrepancy).",
          "court_countries": [
            "GB"
          ],
          "event_countries": [
            "GB"
          ],
          "affected_person_countries": [
            "GB"
          ]
        },
        "publication": {
          "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an own-use, work-context adverse consequence with tribunal-found AI misconduct and a dated, career-ending sanction. This applies the charter's individual-review rule to the AI-sanction class; a class-level ruling is not required. Kumar is named in a public tribunal judgment; the parallel conviction ground is recorded for completeness and is not used to inflate the AI link. RollOnFriday's 'AI addiction' framing is recorded as editorial joking.",
          "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15"
        },
        "ai_involvement": {
          "basis": "Tribunal-found: the 12 March 2026 Answer's misleading quotations and citations were produced with generative AI, and the 9 April 2026 email admitting AI use was itself AI-drafted with further errors (accepted 13 April). The specific tool is not named in the inspected accounts.",
          "status": "supported"
        },
        "person_relations": [
          "communicated_with"
        ]
      },
      "name": "SDT strikes solicitor Abhishek Kumar off the Register of Foreign Lawyers after AI-generated false citations in his SRA defence",
      "summary": "On 25 August 2026 the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal struck Abhishek Kumar off the Register of Foreign Lawyers after finding proved that his 12 March 2026 Answer to the SRA's Rule 12 Statement contained misleading quotations and citations produced with generative AI — including a non-existent 'SRA v Chan [2020] EWHC 1502' and a miscited 'SRA v James, MacGregor & Naylor [2018] EWCA Civ 1420' that is actually an intellectual-property case — and that his 9 April 2026 email admitting AI use was itself AI-drafted with further errors. The tribunal said it would have struck him off on that allegation alone; the parallel ground was his January 2024 conviction under s.21 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. This is the SDT's first case on a lawyer's use of AI, per the SRA's counsel.",
      "incidentDate": "2026-03-12",
      "incidentEndDate": "2026-08-25",
      "incidentKind": "bounded_series",
      "incidentDatePrecision": "range",
      "exposurePattern": "repeated_interactions",
      "reportedDate": "2026-09-04",
      "aiSystem": "Generative AI (tool not named in inspected accounts)",
      "aiCompany": "Unknown",
      "severity": "high",
      "verificationStatus": "verified",
      "harmCategories": [],
      "harmOutcomes": [
        "professional_harm",
        "legal_harm"
      ],
      "harmOutcomeSummary": "Career-ending professional consequence for the lawyer who submitted AI-generated false citations in his own disciplinary defence: struck off the Register of Foreign Lawyers on 25 August 2026, with culpability rated 'very high'.",
      "frameworkFacets": [],
      "causationStatus": "established",
      "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1,
      "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0,
      "affectedCountStatus": "exact",
      "affectedCountEvidence": "One documented harmed person: Kumar himself, the AI user struck off (SDT judgment). No client or third-party harm is reported in the inspected sources and none is counted.",
      "victimAgeRange": "adult",
      "jurisdiction": "GB",
      "platformType": "other",
      "outcomeType": "regulatory_action",
      "outcomeStatus": "resolved",
      "primarySourceUrl": "https://solicitorstribunal.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/12884-2026-Kumar-.pdf",
      "primarySourceLabel": "Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal judgment, SRA Ltd v Abhishek Kumar, Case No. 12884-2026 (25 Aug 2026)",
      "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-15T06:18:05.203137+00:00",
      "scopeVersion": "facts-v3",
      "tags": [
        "work",
        "justice",
        "legal-profession",
        "strike-off",
        "fabricated-citations",
        "sdt",
        "own-use",
        "uk"
      ]
    }
  ]
}