{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-11-02T07:19:51.937Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"youtube-ads","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"2025","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":1,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"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":"2025-western-australia-ai-deepfake-of-premier-in-youtube-investment-scam-advert-premier-distressed","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The pop-up video advertisement on YouTube uses Mr Cook's likeness and voice, encouraging the public to sign up for the \"low investment, high return, real results\" opportunity.'; '\"With an initial investment of just $400, users are seeing average returns of around $19,200 in their first month.\"'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Consumer Protection WA late on Friday released a warning of the online ad using an AI deepfake of the Premier promoting an investment opportunity which required victims to pay a $400 contribution.'; 'The video appeared on YouTube and said it was “endorsed by the Government”.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"A pop-up video advertisement on YouTube used Premier Roger Cook's likeness and voice to promote an investment opportunity it said was endorsed by the government, requiring a $400 contribution.","causal_attribution":"Description of the advert by ABC News and The West Australian; the advert was not inspected."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'“This is a deepfake investment scam created using artificial intelligence, to mimic the Premier’s likeness and voice,” the watchdog’s statement read.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'“This is a deepfake investment scam created using artificial intelligence, to mimic the Premier’s likeness and voice,” Consumer Protection said in a statement.'; '“We are actively investigating this matter and have reported the scam website to the domain host to request it be removed swiftly to help prevent further spread,” they said.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Consumer Protection WA stated that the advert was a deepfake investment scam created using artificial intelligence to mimic the Premier's likeness and voice, and said it was actively investigating and had reported the scam website to the domain host for removal.","causal_attribution":"The agency's statement as reported by The West Australian (one origin)."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'\"So when you've got time to watch the video slowly, you can see that the lips are not moving in time with the words, and that the hands look a bit unusual.'; 'The watchdog was advised of the ad on Friday morning by a member of the public, with the team then able to determine the domain holder, before contacting them and requesting it be removed.'; '\"Unfortunately, it's a bit like a giant game of whack-a-mole … as soon as we take them down, they pop up again,\" she said.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Consumer Protection WA Commissioner Trish Blake said that when the video is watched slowly the lips are not moving in time with the words and the hands look unusual, and that her team, told of the advert by a member of the public on Friday morning, identified the domain holder and asked for removal.","causal_attribution":"The commissioner's account to ABC News; the technical basis for the AI attribution."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'\"I was obviously very distressed to see my image used in this way.'; '\"It's very scary that people go to such lengths to deceive people and to try and scam them out of their hard earned dollars. It's disgusting,\"'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'“I was obviously very distressed to see my image used in this way.'; '“It’s pretty distressing, isn’t it? It’s very scary that people go to such lengths to deceive people and to try to scam them out of their hard earned dollars and it’s disgusting,” he said on Saturday.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The Premier said he was very distressed to see his image used in this way and called the scam very scary and disgusting.","causal_attribution":"The Premier's remarks of 8 November as reported by ABC News and The West Australian (one origin)."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'“If you look closely, you can tell it’s fake, but I can understand to the casual observer, it looks legitimate, it’s not.”'; 'While issuing a warning of the scam, Mr Cook jokingly asked for the community to keep trusting the real him.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The Premier said that if you look closely you can tell the video is fake but that it could look legitimate to a casual observer, and jokingly asked people to keep trusting the real him.","causal_attribution":"The West Australian's report of the same remarks; context for the Premier's response."}],"effects":[{"label":"premier's likeness and voice used in a fake investment advert; he said he was very distressed","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-08/wa-premier-deepfake-ai-scam-prompts-warning-amid-cheaper-tech/105987626","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"English original read in full; no translation.","independence_group":"abc-news-au"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.harveyreporter.com.au/politics/state-politics/roger-cook-very-distressed-to-see-himself-used-in-ai-deepfake-video-as-part-of-online-investment-scam-c-20617122","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"English original read in full; no translation.","independence_group":"west-australian"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.broomead.com.au/news/wa/wa-premier-roger-cook-features-in-investment-scam-on-youtube-consumer-protection-wa-issues-warning-c-20610322","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"English original read in full; no translation.","independence_group":"west-australian"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["finance","public_life"],"unknowns":["Who made the advert and which AI tool was used.","When the advert first appeared and how many people saw it.","Whether anyone paid money after seeing it.","Whether YouTube removed the advert and what the investigation found."],"geography":{"basis":"The advert used the Premier of Western Australia and was reported to and investigated by Western Australia's consumer protection agency, which warned the state's public (ABC News; The West Australian). No court is involved. Where the advert was made is unknown.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["AU"],"affected_person_countries":["AU"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published because the state consumer protection agency that investigated the advert stated it was an AI deepfake and its commissioner described visible signs of generation, and the depicted Premier said he was very distressed to see his image used.","reviewed_on":"2026-11-02"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Consumer Protection WA, which investigated the advert and pursued the scam website's domain host, stated that it was a deepfake created using artificial intelligence to mimic the Premier's likeness and voice, and its commissioner described visible signs: lips not moving in time with the words and unusual hands. The generated likeness is what the advert presented to viewers and what the Premier said distressed him. No source names the tool or the maker.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Consumer Protection WA says a YouTube investment-scam advert used an AI deepfake of Premier Roger Cook; he said he was very distressed by it","summary":"In early November 2025 a pop-up advertisement on YouTube used the likeness and voice of Western Australia's Premier, Roger Cook, to promote an investment it claimed the government endorsed, requiring a $400 contribution. Consumer Protection WA, told of the advert by a member of the public on Friday 7 November, warned that it was a deepfake investment scam created using artificial intelligence, said it was investigating and asked the domain host to remove the scam website. Its commissioner told ABC News that, watched slowly, the lips do not move in time with the words and the hands look unusual. The Premier said on 8 November that he was very distressed to see his image used in this way and called the scam very scary and disgusting. No person who paid money after seeing the advert is described.","incidentDate":"2025-11-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2025-11-07","aiSystem":"Unidentified AI deepfake tool used to make a video advert with the likeness and voice of the Premier of Western Australia, as described by Consumer Protection WA","aiProduct":"Unidentified video tool","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","reputational_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A YouTube investment-scam advert that Consumer Protection WA said was an AI deepfake used the Western Australian Premier's likeness and voice; he said he was very distressed to see his image used this way (reported).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the Premier of Western Australia, whose likeness and voice the advert used and who said he was very distressed to see his image used in this way (ABC News; The West Australian). No person who paid money after seeing the advert is described; viewers and the public warned are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"AU","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"investigation_opened","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-08/wa-premier-deepfake-ai-scam-prompts-warning-amid-cheaper-tech/105987626","primarySourceLabel":"ABC News, 8 Nov 2025: deepfake AI ad featuring WA Premier Roger Cook prompts latest scam warning","firstPublishedAt":"2026-11-02T03:05:32.284016+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-11-02T03:05:32.284016+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["deepfake","investment-scam","youtube-ads","consumer-protection","depicted-or-impersonated","western-australia"]}]}