{ "meta": { "exportedAt": "2026-09-22T15:32:20.893Z", "formatVersion": 2, "selection": { "q": "investment-fraud", "system": "", "harm": "", "context": "", "country": "", "role": "", "relation": "core", "evidence": "", "year": "", "response": "", "severity": "", "verification": "", "view": "incidents", "sort": "added" }, "totalIncidents": 2, "coverage": { "cases": 2, "countries": 2, "languages": 2, "unknownLocation": 0, "locationPending": 0, "unknownLanguage": 0, "unknownDate": 1, "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-kazakhstan-deepfake-celebrity-trading-fraud-series", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "\"Только за последние полтора месяца по стране было зарегистрировано 119 таких фактов\"; \"создают дипфейк-видео со знаменитостями и фейковые ИИ-платформы, обещающие сверхвысокий пассивный доход\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "\"В Казахстане за последние полтора месяца зарегистрировали 119 случаев мошенничества под видом трейдинга с использованием дипфейков, сообщили в Генеральной прокуратуре\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "\"По информации Генпрокуратуры, только за последние полтора месяца по стране зарегистрировано 119 таких фактов\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "\"Только за последние полтора месяца в стране зарегистрировали 119 фактов мошенничества\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" } ], "assertion": "The Prosecutor General's Office said that in the previous one and a half months 119 cases of fraud had been registered in Kazakhstan in a scheme that lures victims through social-media deepfake videos of celebrities and fake 'AI' investment platforms (named examples: 'Kaspi AI' with Mikhail Lomtadze, 'Quantum AI' with Elon Musk, 'TON' with Pavel Durov, 'people's investments' fronted by television news presenters).", "causal_attribution": "Single official statement relayed by five outlets; the 119 figure is a count of registered cases, and the deepfake description is the office's characterisation of the scheme." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "\"В сентябре текущего года жительница Талдыкоргана обратилась с заявлением по факту мошенничества в особо крупном размере\"; \"перевела на счета 3-их лиц более 7 млн\"; \"По указанному факту проводится досудебное расследование\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "\"Одной из жертв мошенников стала жительница Талдыкоргана\"; \"Перечисленные ею деньги и якобы дивиденды отображались в фейковом кошельке, однако возможность их обналичить мошенники не предоставили. По указанному факту проводится досудебное расследование\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "\"Более 7 млн тенге перевела злоумышленникам жительница Талдыкоргана, поверив в рекламу о сверхприбыли от трейдинга\"; \"Вывести средства женщина не смогла\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "\"она перевела на счета третьих лиц более 7 млн тенге\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "In September 2026 a woman from Taldykorgan reported large-scale fraud: after an Instagram advertisement offering super-profits from share trading she left her details, was contacted by the fraudsters and on their instructions transferred more than 7 million tenge to third-party accounts; the money and supposed dividends showed in a fake wallet she could not cash out; a pre-trial investigation is under way.", "causal_attribution": "The office's account of one registered case, given as an example of the scheme; whether the advertisement she saw was a deepfake video is not stated." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "a woman lost more than 7 million tenge; 119 registered cases of deepfake-fronted trading fraud in about six weeks", "claim_id": "c2", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://kazpravda.kz/n/dipfeyki-maska-durova-i-lomtadze-kazahstancev-obmanyvayut-pod-vidom-treydinga/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "ru", "translation_note": "Read in Russian on 2026-09-19 (Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, Dana Amenova, 16 Sep 2026), citing the Prosecutor General's press service; quotations in this record are the reviewer's translations from the Russian body.", "independence_group": "kz-prosecutor-general" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://informburo.kz/novosti/dipfeiki-ilona-maska-i-pavla-durova-119-slucaev-mosennicestva-s-treidingom-zaregistrirovali-v-kazaxstane", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "ru", "translation_note": "Read in Russian on 2026-09-19 (Informburo.kz, 16 Sep 2026). Same Prosecutor General statement, with the office's quoted description of the Taldykorgan case.", "independence_group": "kz-prosecutor-general" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://tengrinews.kz/kazakhstan_news/kazahstanka-lishilas-7-millionov-tenge-reklamyi-instagram-608643/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "ru", "translation_note": "Read in Russian on 2026-09-19 (Tengrinews, 16 Sep 2026). Same statement; carries the office's quoted sentence on the fake wallet and the pre-trial investigation.", "independence_group": "kz-prosecutor-general" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://kazlenta.kz/120453-moshennichestvo-pod-vidom-treydinga-genprokuratura-obratilas-k-kazahstancam.html", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "ru", "translation_note": "Read in Russian on 2026-09-19 (Kazlenta.kz, 16 Sep 2026, the earliest report found). Same statement.", "independence_group": "kz-prosecutor-general" }, { "id": "s5", "url": "https://kz.kursiv.media/2026-09-16/ezif-lomtadze-mask-i-durov-daryat-milliony-kak-kazahstancev-zamanivayut-v-lzheinvesticii/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "ru", "translation_note": "Read in Russian on 2026-09-19 (Kursiv Media, 16 Sep 2026). Same statement.", "independence_group": "kz-prosecutor-general" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "others_use" ], "contexts": [ "finance", "everyday_life" ], "unknowns": [ "Whether the Instagram advertisement seen by the Taldykorgan woman was itself a deepfake video or a fake 'AI platform' page.", "The number of victims and total losses across the 119 registered cases; the exact period ('the last one and a half months' before mid-September 2026).", "Whether any suspects have been identified or funds recovered.", "The Prosecutor General's original release text was not reached (gov.kz is JavaScript-only to this host); the record relies on five press relays of the press service." ], "geography": { "basis": "Nationwide registrations in Kazakhstan per the Prosecutor General's Office; the identified victim lives in Taldykorgan (Zhetysu region). No court proceeding reported.", "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "KZ" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "KZ" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an impersonation-fraud series with an official source: the Prosecutor General's Office reports 119 registered cases in about six weeks lured by deepfake celebrity videos and fake 'AI' platforms, and one identified anonymous victim who lost more than 7 million tenge. Five Russian-language bodies read, all relaying one official statement (claims reported); person count kept to the one identified victim plus unquantified others.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-19" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The Prosecutor General's Office describes the scheme's lure as deepfake videos of celebrities and fake 'AI' platforms placed on social networks; no technical verification is published, and the statement does not say whether the Taldykorgan woman's Instagram advertisement was itself a deepfake. The AI artifacts depicted and impersonated public figures; the victims' dealings were with human fraudsters.", "status": "reported" }, "person_relations": [ "depicted_or_impersonated" ] }, "name": "Kazakhstan: the Prosecutor General's Office reported 119 trading-fraud cases registered in about six weeks, lured by deepfake videos of Elon Musk, Pavel Durov and other public figures and fake 'AI' platforms; a Taldykorgan woman transferred more than 7 million tenge", "summary": "On 16 September 2026 the Prosecutor General's Office of Kazakhstan warned of an investment-fraud scheme in which criminals advertise non-existent projects on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and other platforms using deepfake videos of well-known people and fake 'AI' investment platforms promising very high passive income: 'Kaspi AI' with Mikhail Lomtadze, 'Quantum AI' with Elon Musk, 'TON' with Pavel Durov, and 'people's investments' in KazMunayGas or Gazprom fronted by news presenters from Khabar 24, KTK and Channel One. The office said 119 such cases had been registered across the country in the previous one and a half months. Its example: in September 2026 a woman from Taldykorgan saw an Instagram advertisement offering high returns from share trading, left her details through the link, was contacted by the fraudsters and, following their instructions, transferred more than 7 million tenge to third-party accounts; the money and supposed dividends appeared in a fake wallet that she could not withdraw from. A pre-trial investigation is under way. The office urged people not to trust guaranteed-return offers or transfer money to strangers.", "incidentDate": "2026-08-01", "incidentEndDate": "2026-09-16", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "repeated_interactions", "reportedDate": "2026-09-16", "aiSystem": "Deepfake videos of public figures (Elon Musk, Pavel Durov, Mikhail Lomtadze, television news presenters) and fake 'AI' investment platforms ('Quantum AI', 'Kaspi AI'); generation tools not identified", "severity": "medium", "verificationStatus": "unverified", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "financial_loss" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A woman in Taldykorgan transferred more than 7 million tenge to fraudsters after an Instagram trading advertisement and could not withdraw the supposed returns; the Prosecutor General's Office registered 119 such fraud cases nationwide in about six weeks, in a scheme whose lure is deepfake celebrity videos and fake 'AI' platforms.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 1, "affectedCountStatus": "partial", "affectedCountEvidence": "One identified victim (the Taldykorgan woman, more than 7 million tenge). The 119 figure counts registered fraud cases ('фактов'), not people, so the remaining victims are unquantified. One counted plus unquantified others: partial.", "victimAgeRange": "unknown", "jurisdiction": "KZ", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "investigation_opened", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://kazpravda.kz/n/dipfeyki-maska-durova-i-lomtadze-kazahstancev-obmanyvayut-pod-vidom-treydinga/", "primarySourceLabel": "Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, 16 Sep 2026: Deepfakes of Musk, Durov and Lomtadze: Kazakhstanis defrauded under the guise of trading (Prosecutor General's Office statement)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-20T03:19:45.310788+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "deepfake", "celebrity-impersonation", "investment-fraud", "trading-scam", "fake-ai-platform", "kazakhstan", "prosecutor-general", "financial-loss", "instagram" ] }, { "id": "2026-northern-ireland-ai-celebrity-video-investment-scam", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'A person has lost £250,000 after falling victim to an AI-generated scam'; 'saw what appeared to be an AI-generated video featuring a well-known personality from the financial sector'; 'persuaded the victim in the Ards and north Down area to create multiple online accounts and gained remote access to their computer'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'a victim lost £250,000 in Ards and North Down'; 'encouraged to borrow money to continue investing'; 'further payments were required before money supposedly held in the investment could be released'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "'the victim was encouraged to borrow money to continue investing. Funds were transferred to accounts controlled by the criminals'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "A person in the Ards and North Down area lost £250,000 to an investment fraud that began with an apparently AI-generated video of a well-known financial personality, progressed through WhatsApp contact, multiple new online accounts, remote access to the victim's computer and borrowing to invest, and ended with demands for further payments to release the funds.", "causal_attribution": "Single PSNI account relayed by three outlets; the AI-generated nature of the video is the police's description ('what appeared to be')." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "one person lost £250,000 (partly borrowed) to an investment fraud lured by an AI-generated celebrity video", "claim_id": "c1", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2zkp8vx9jo", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-17 and 2026-09-18 (BBC News NI, Ben Lonsdale, 7 Sep 2026). Reports the PSNI statement and adds that BBC News NI has seen online scams using Martin Lewis, Peter Jones and Steven Bartlett; the PSNI did not confirm the personality.", "independence_group": "psni-statement" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/psni-urging-public-to-be-vigilant-after-sophisticated-investment-fraud-victim-looses-250000-IZL253VWX5BOLJN7ZKZ56RUYDY/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-18 via the MSN content API copy (Irish News, 7 Sep 2026). Carries the full PSNI statement including the Inspector Youle and Superintendent Gibson quotations.", "independence_group": "psni-statement" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://www.farminglife.com/news/crime/warning-after-victim-loses-ps250000-in-ai-investment-scam-in-northern-ireland-8972844", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-18 via the MSN content API copy (Farming Life, 7 Sep 2026). Same PSNI statement.", "independence_group": "psni-statement" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "others_use" ], "contexts": [ "finance", "everyday_life" ], "unknowns": [ "The dates over which the fraud ran are not given.", "The impersonated personality and the AI tool are not identified.", "No arrest or recovery of funds is reported.", "The victim's age and circumstances are not described." ], "geography": { "basis": "The PSNI locates the victim in the Ards and North Down area of Northern Ireland (UK, recorded as GB). No court proceeding.", "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "GB" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "GB" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an impersonation-fraud case with a concrete, police-reported consequence: one identified-but-anonymous person lost £250,000 after an AI-generated celebrity video lure. Three outlets read, all relaying one PSNI statement; claim status reported.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-18" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The PSNI says the fraud began with 'what appeared to be an AI-generated video' of a financial personality; no technical confirmation is published. The relation recorded is that the AI artifact depicted and impersonated a public figure to reach the victim; the victim's own dealings were with human fraudsters on WhatsApp.", "status": "reported" }, "person_relations": [ "depicted_or_impersonated" ] }, "name": "Ards and North Down, Northern Ireland: a person lost £250,000 to an investment fraud that began with an AI-generated video of a well-known financial personality", "summary": "On 7 September 2026 the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said a person in the Ards and North Down area had lost £250,000 in what it called a 'sophisticated and substantial' investment fraud. The victim first saw what appeared to be an AI-generated online video featuring a well-known personality from the financial sector promoting an investment with significant returns. After investing a small amount the victim was contacted on WhatsApp and encouraged to pay more, persuaded to open multiple online accounts, to allow the fraudsters remote access to a computer 'to assist with the investment', to borrow money to keep investing, and finally to make further payments to 'release' funds supposedly held in the investment. The PSNI did not name the personality; BBC News NI noted that fabricated endorsements of financial experts such as Martin Lewis, Peter Jones and Steven Bartlett circulate online.", "incidentKind": "ongoing_experience", "incidentDatePrecision": "unknown", "exposurePattern": "repeated_interactions", "reportedDate": "2026-09-07", "aiSystem": "AI-generated video impersonating a well-known financial personality (tool not identified; personality not named by police)", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "financial_loss" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "One person lost £250,000, including borrowed money, to an investment fraud that used an AI-generated video of a financial personality as its lure and progressed through WhatsApp grooming and remote computer access.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 1, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The PSNI describes a single victim who lost £250,000. Exact count of one.", "victimAgeRange": "unknown", "jurisdiction": "GB", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "investigation_opened", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2zkp8vx9jo", "primarySourceLabel": "BBC News NI, 7 Sep 2026: Victim loses £250k after scammers use AI video of 'well-known' celebrity (PSNI statement)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-18T03:25:09.292712+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "deepfake", "ai-generated-video", "celebrity-impersonation", "investment-fraud", "united-kingdom", "northern-ireland", "psni", "financial-loss" ] } ] }