{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-01T06:57:24.955Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"impersonation-scam","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":2,"coverage":{"cases":2,"countries":1,"languages":2,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":1,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"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":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-victoria-australia-ai-cloned-doctor-voice-gift-card-scam-mandarin-speakers","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Scammers are using artificial intelligence to clone the voicers of doctors, general practitioners and surgeons.'; 'Ten reports of the scam were received last month'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Police have received 10 reports since early September, with victims losing tens of thousands of dollars.'; 'The warning says the caller uses the victim's real name, then tells them to buy gift cards and hand over the gift card codes by text message.'; 'The scammers are using AI voice cloning and targeting Mandarin speakers across Victoria.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Victoria Police say scammers targeting Mandarin speakers are using artificial intelligence to clone the voices of doctors, general practitioners and surgeons, using victims' real names and telling them to buy gift cards and send the codes by text message; police received ten reports in September 2026.","causal_attribution":"Victoria Police warning carried by ABC and NewsWire (one chain)."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'In one case, the scammer copied the voice of a medical professional known to the victim.'; 'The victim bought $50,000 in gift cards over three days, apparently as business gifts, until they became suspicious, called the medical professional's real number, and realised it was a scam.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'one victim who lost $50,000 to the scam after buying gift cards across a three-day period before they became suspicious.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'In one of the reports the scammer called a victim and mimicked the voice of a professional known to them.'; 'The victim purchased $50,000 in gift cards across a three-day period before becoming suspicious.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"In one case the scammer copied the voice of a medical professional known to the victim, who bought $50,000 in gift cards over three days before becoming suspicious and calling the medical professional's real number.","causal_attribution":"Police account (one chain); the voice-copy detail is in the NewsWire copy only."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The other report saw the scammer pose as a medical professional and call the victim to exploit their urgent health conditions,'; 'The victim was repeatedly pressured into buying more cards until their cash flow was entirely depleted, resulting in a financial loss of $40,000.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'Police say another victim lost $40,000 after a scammer pretended to be a medical professional who exploited their urgent health conditions.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"In another case a scammer posing as a medical professional exploited the victim's urgent health conditions and repeatedly pressured them to buy gift cards until their cash flow was depleted, for a loss of $40,000.","causal_attribution":"Police account (one chain); police do not say whether a cloned voice was used in this case."}],"effects":[{"label":"one victim bought $50,000 in gift cards over three days after a caller used the copied voice of a medical professional the victim knew","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"another victim lost $40,000 after a caller posing as a medical professional exploited their urgent health conditions and pressured them until their cash was depleted","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-01/fake-doctor-scam-targets-mandarin-speaking-community/107214906","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-01 from the live ABC News page (published 30 September 2026 UTC, dated 1 October locally); reports the Victoria Police warning and quotes the Cybercrime Squad.","independence_group":"victoria-police-warning"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://au.news.yahoo.com/aussies-targeted-chilling-ai-doctor-222212819.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-01 from the live Yahoo News Australia page (NewsWire copy, 30 September 2026 UTC); quotes the Victoria Police warning at greater length.","independence_group":"victoria-police-warning"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.insidestategovernment.com.au/warning-issued-over-ai-fake-doctor-scam/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-01 from the live page (Inside State Government, 1 October 2026); reproduces the Victoria Police statement at greater length.","independence_group":"victoria-police-warning"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["health","finance"],"unknowns":["Which AI tool was used and how the voices were obtained.","How many of the ten reports involved a financial loss, and the total loss.","Whether a cloned voice was used in the $40,000 case.","The victims' ages and locations within Victoria, and the dates of the calls.","Whether the professional imitated in the $50,000 case was a medical professional: NewsWire says a medical professional and ABC says the victim called their health provider, while Inside State Government's account of the police statement says 'a professional known to them'.","How many of the ten reports involved a cloned voice."],"geography":{"basis":"Victoria Police say the calls have been reported across Victoria and are warning the Mandarin-speaking community in Victoria (ABC, Yahoo News Australia).","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["AU"],"affected_person_countries":["AU"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (communicated_with): Victoria Police report a series of scam calls in which AI-cloned voices of doctors were used to make Mandarin-speaking victims buy gift cards, with two described victims losing $50,000 and $40,000. The AI element is the police account; no victim is identified.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-01"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Victoria Police, as reported by ABC News and Yahoo News Australia (NewsWire), say the scammers use artificial intelligence to clone the voices of doctors, general practitioners and surgeons; in the $50,000 case the scammer copied the voice of a medical professional known to the victim. Police do not say whether a cloned voice was used in the $40,000 case, and no tool is named. Inside State Government's account of the police statement says AI voice cloning 'has been featured in several reports to police' and describes the $50,000 case as the scammer having 'mimicked the voice of a professional known to them'.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Victoria, Australia: police warned, in reports published on 1 October 2026 local time, that scammers using AI to clone the voices of doctors have called Mandarin speakers and made them buy gift cards, with ten reports in September and two victims losing $50,000 and $40,000","summary":"Victoria Police warned, in reports published on 1 October 2026 local time, that fraudsters targeting the state's Mandarin-speaking community are using artificial intelligence to clone the voices of doctors, general practitioners and surgeons, calling victims by their real names and telling them to buy gift cards and text the codes (ABC News, Yahoo News Australia). Police received ten reports in September. In one case, NewsWire reports, the scammer copied the voice of a medical professional the victim knew, and the victim bought $50,000 in gift cards over three days before calling the real practice. In another, a caller posing as a medical professional exploited the victim's urgent health conditions and pressured them until their cash was depleted, a loss of $40,000; police do not say whether that call used a cloned voice. No victim is identified.","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-01","aiSystem":"AI voice cloning used by scammers to imitate the voices of doctors, general practitioners and surgeons in phone calls (Victoria Police, as reported); no tool is named","aiProduct":"Unidentified voice-cloning tool","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["financial_loss"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Two victims described by Victoria Police lost $50,000 and $40,000 in gift cards after calls from scammers posing as doctors; police say the scammers clone doctors' voices with AI, and in the $50,000 case copied the voice of a medical professional the victim knew.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":2,"affectedCountStatus":"documented_minimum","affectedCountEvidence":"Police describe two victims with losses ($50,000 and $40,000). Ten reports were received, but police do not say how many involved a loss. Documented minimum 2. Police do not say whether a cloned voice was used in the $40,000 case; both victims are counted as harmed within the reported scam series.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"AU-VIC","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-01/fake-doctor-scam-targets-mandarin-speaking-community/107214906","primarySourceLabel":"ABC News, 1 October 2026: Scammers using AI to impersonate doctor in calls to Mandarin-speakers, police warn","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-01T03:16:36.473962+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-01T03:16:36.473962+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["voice-cloning","impersonation-scam","gift-card-scam","mandarin-speakers","victoria","australia","communicated-with"]},{"id":"2026-singer-samuel-sarmiento-ai-cloned-voice-used-to-ask-for-funeral-money","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'No se vale que haya gente tan ruin que ande pidiendo dinero con mi voz, con IA, para el sepelio de mi madre. Ahorita me avisaron'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'No se dejen engañar, yo no ando pidiendo dinero'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'El intérprete denunció públicamente que personas malintencionadas están clonando su voz mediante Inteligencia Artificial (IA) para solicitar depósitos económicos a su nombre'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Sarmiento said in a video on his Instagram account that people were asking for money for his mother's funeral using his voice made with AI, and that he was not asking anyone for money.","causal_attribution":"His own account, relayed by all four outlets from one video; the fake videos were not inspected."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Horas después de informar sobre la muerte de su madre, el cantante recurrió nuevamente a sus redes sociales para advertir a sus seguidores sobre un presunto intento de fraude.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The warning came hours after he announced his mother's death on social media.","causal_attribution":"Timing as reported by Récord; the death is not connected to AI by any source."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'están circulando videos falsos en los que se utiliza su imagen e incluso una voz clonada mediante inteligencia artificial (deepfake), en los que supuestamente él pide dinero para cubrir los gastos del sepelio de su mamá'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"According to El Diario de Sonora, the fake videos used his image as well as a voice cloned with AI.","causal_attribution":"One outlet's paraphrase of his video; his quoted words mention only his voice."}],"effects":[{"label":"AI-cloned voice used in fake videos asking his followers for funeral money in his name during his bereavement","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.razon.com.mx/entretenimiento/2026/09/30/asi-despidio-a-su-mama-samuel-sarmiento-exvocalista-de-los-recoditos-alerta-a-fans-de-estafa-con-su-voz/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"es","translation_note":"Read live in Spanish on 2026-10-01 (La Razón, 30 September 2026). Quotes his Instagram video. Researcher translation.","independence_group":"sarmiento-instagram-video"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.record.com.mx/historia/vuela-alto-madre-mia-samuel-sarmiento-anuncia-la-muerte-de-su-mama-y-alerta-por-fraude-2026093018264889429","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"es","translation_note":"Read live in Spanish on 2026-10-01 (Récord, 30 September 2026); relays the same Instagram video. Researcher translation.","independence_group":"sarmiento-instagram-video"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://lamejor.com.mx/news/2026/9/30/samuel-sarmiento-desmiente-videos-de-extorsion-donde-presuntamente-pide-dinero-para-el-sepelio-de-su-mama-video-30078.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"es","translation_note":"Read live in Spanish on 2026-10-01 (La Mejor, 30 September 2026); quotes the same video. Researcher translation.","independence_group":"sarmiento-instagram-video"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://eldiariodesonora.com.mx/espectaculos/2026/09/30/samuel-sarmiento-denuncia-extorsion-inteligencia-artificial-fallecimiento-su-madre.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"es","translation_note":"Read live in Spanish on 2026-10-01 (El Diario de Sonora, 30 September 2026); paraphrases the same video. Researcher translation.","independence_group":"sarmiento-instagram-video"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["finance","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["Whether anyone sent money, and how much.","On which platforms the fake videos circulated and how many people received them.","Whether a police complaint or takedown request was made.","Which tool was used.","Whether the requests were videos, audio messages or both: La Razón and El Diario de Sonora say videos, Récord says messages or audios, and his quoted words mention only his voice."],"geography":{"basis":"The inspected bodies say the videos circulated on social networks and place him in the regional Mexican music scene; Récord calls him 'cantante sinaloense', an origin descriptor. None states where he lives or where the requests were received, so no country is inferred from origin, the genre, the outlets or the language.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a core case: an AI-cloned voice impersonated the singer to solicit funeral money in his name, and he describes it in his own public video. He is a public figure and is named as all sources do; his mother is not named. One underlying account (his video) relayed by four outlets.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-01"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Sarmiento says in his Instagram video that people are asking for money 'con mi voz, con IA' (La Razón; La Mejor); the outlets describe a video made with AI (La Razón) and a voice cloned with AI (Récord; La Mejor; El Diario de Sonora). The fake videos were not inspected and no tool is named. The cloned voice impersonated him (depicted_or_impersonated).","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Singer Samuel Sarmiento, formerly of Banda Los Recoditos, warns followers that fake videos using his voice cloned with AI are asking for money for his mother's funeral, hours after he announced her death in September 2026","summary":"Samuel Sarmiento, a former lead singer of Banda Los Recoditos, announced his mother's death on social media in late September 2026. Hours later he posted a video on his official Instagram account warning that people were circulating fake videos using his voice, cloned with AI, in which he appeared to ask for money to cover her funeral costs. 'No se vale que haya gente tan ruin que ande pidiendo dinero con mi voz, con IA, para el sepelio de mi madre', he said, adding that he was not asking anyone for money. La Razón, Récord, La Mejor and El Diario de Sonora relayed his video on 30 September 2026. No report says whether anyone paid, and no police complaint is reported.","incidentDate":"2026-09-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-09-30","aiSystem":"Fake videos using the singer's voice cloned with AI ('con mi voz, con IA', in his words) and, per El Diario de Sonora, his image, circulated on social networks to solicit money for his mother's funeral; the tool and operators are not identified","aiProduct":"Unidentified voice-cloning tool","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["reputational_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"During his bereavement, fake videos used his AI-cloned voice to ask his followers for funeral money in his name, and he had to post a public warning that he was not asking for money (his Instagram video, relayed by La Razón, Récord, La Mejor and El Diario de Sonora).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person, Samuel Sarmiento (La Razón; Récord; La Mejor; El Diario de Sonora). Followers who received the request are not counted because no source reports anyone deceived. Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"adult","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.razon.com.mx/entretenimiento/2026/09/30/asi-despidio-a-su-mama-samuel-sarmiento-exvocalista-de-los-recoditos-alerta-a-fans-de-estafa-con-su-voz/","primarySourceLabel":"La Razón, 30 September 2026: Así despidió a su mamá Samuel Sarmiento, exvocalista de Los Recoditos; alerta a fans de estafa con su voz","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-01T03:12:27.821728+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-01T03:12:27.821728+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["deepfakes","voice-cloning","impersonation-scam","celebrity-deepfake","bereavement","musician","spanish-language"]}]}