Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnidentified voice-cloning and deepfake tool
The Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) said at a press briefing in Abuja on Friday 23 October 2026 that its operatives arrested three suspects in Lekki, Lagos State, on 14 October over alleged identity theft, investment fraud and money laundering. According to the centre's director, the suspects allegedly operated fake social media accounts impersonating prominent personalities to trick victims into transferring money, and were linked to a cryptocurrency investment scheme promoted through a website called Bitcoin Trading Hub. Investigators said one of the suspects used artificial intelligence voice cloning and deepfake technology to impersonate Tesla chief executive Elon Musk and communicate with victims, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. The police did not say how they established the AI use or which tools were involved, how many people were deceived or how much they lost. Seized devices were undergoing forensic examination to identify victims and trace the proceeds, and the three suspects remained in custody.
Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 25/10/2026
Event date unknownHong Kong SAR ChinaUnidentified video tool
Hong Kong police said at a press briefing reported by CNN on 4 February 2024 that a finance worker at a multinational firm had been duped into attending a video call with what appeared to be the company's UK-based chief financial officer and other staff, all of whom were deepfake recreations, and had then remitted a total of HK$200 million (about US$25.6 million). In May 2024 the British engineering firm Arup confirmed to CNN and the Guardian that it was the company involved, that it had notified Hong Kong police in January 2024, and that fake voices and images were used. The worker was not named.
Core concern High reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 22/10/2026
Event date unknownSpainUnidentified voice-cloning tool
The Guardia Civil in La Rioja said on 25 August 2026 that it had solved a 'relative in trouble' fraud in which the criminals used artificial intelligence to clone the voice of the victim's daughter. According to the force's account as reported by the newspaper La Rioja and Radio Arnedo, the victim received WhatsApp messages from an unknown number by someone posing as the daughter and asking for urgent money; when the victim called that number to check, a voice that sounded like the daughter answered, and the victim transferred 9,980.25 euros. Investigators of the Guardia Civil's technology team established that the voice had been generated with AI tools. Urgent coordination with the banks froze the funds in the destination account and the full amount was returned to the victim; Radio Arnedo and ActualidadRiojaBaja report that the presumed perpetrator was identified and investigated.
Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 11/10/2026
Event date unknownUnited Kingdom, GeorgiaUnidentified video tool
A man in his 30s from East Anglia, England, told the Guardian (pseudonym used) that he watched a video of broadcaster Ben Fogle apparently promoting cryptocurrency trading on a site called AdmiralsFX, entered his details, was called by what turned out to be a Tbilisi call centre, paid a £250 buy-in and within a month had handed over £27,000, about a year's salary. The Guardian describes the clip as a deepfake, a digitally doctored video Fogle had publicly warned about in spring 2024. The account was published in March 2025 as part of a Guardian, SVT and OCCRP investigation of a leak from the Georgian operation, which the Guardian says duped at least 6,179 people and whose victims frequently cited the deepfake ads as the reason they went ahead.
Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 09/10/2026
Event date unknownThailandUnidentified video and voice-cloning tool
Manager Online reported on 2 July 2026, citing the Royal Thai Police and its Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, that cyber police had moved against a large online gambling network after finding that it used AI to fake the face and voice of Hai Arpaporn Nakhonsawan, a well-known luk thung singer, in advertising clips that urged people to join the website. The clips gave the false impression that she recommended the site, although she had no involvement. Police traced the clips to the website KFC888, which offered online lottery, foreign stock-index lottery and sports betting, with turnover estimated at about 120 million baht a month. They searched two locations in Bangkok, a residence believed to be linked to the site's executives and an electronic payment-gateway company, seized computers and documents, and summoned an authorised person of the company to acknowledge charges including a Computer Crime Act offence over AI-created images that may damage others. Komchadluek reported on 1 July that the singer went to the cyber police after Facebook Reels clips altered with AI used her face and voice without her consent.
Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 04/10/2026
Event date unknownEgyptUnidentified image tool
According to an Interior Ministry statement relayed by Egypt Telegraph on 2 October and Youm7 on 3 October 2026, investigations by the ministry's General Administration for the Protection of Morals found that a man was running social media pages that defrauded people by making them believe he was a young woman and advertising paid sexual services. Police arrested him in the Munira police district of Giza with four mobile phones that held evidence of the activity. In the ministry's account he admitted taking photos of young women from social media, altering them with AI applications and reposting them on his pages so that followers would believe he was a woman, asking for money and switching off his phone once it was transferred. The reports do not give the number of people deceived, the amounts taken or the number of women whose photos were used.
Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 04/10/2026
Event date unknownEgyptUnidentified fake-chat tool
On 2 October 2026 Youm7, Akhbar El-Yom, Al-Gomhor and the National Media Authority's site Maspero relayed an Egyptian Interior Ministry statement saying that the ministry's information technology crimes department, working with the public security sector, had identified a man running a social media page that took money from people who wanted to promote their products through sponsored advertising, on the claim that it would raise their follower numbers. The ministry says that, when confronted, he admitted creating the page to defraud them and fabricating conversations with public figures using artificial intelligence programs to attract victims and make his activity look credible; Al-Gomhor attributes the fabricated conversations to the investigations. He asked them to transfer money and then switched off his phone. The ministry says he committed 12 fraud incidents against citizens in the same way and that legal measures were taken. The reports do not give the amounts, the number of distinct people defrauded, the public figures involved or the AI programs used.
Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 04/10/2026
Event date unknownEgyptUnidentified image tool
According to an Interior Ministry statement relayed by Soralive, Shbabbek and Egypt Telegraph on 30 September and 1 October 2026, Egypt's cybercrime and morals police arrested an unemployed man living in the Zagazig Second police district of Sharqia governorate. Investigators say he ran social media pages that presented him as a young woman offering paid sexual services. In the ministry's account he admitted collecting photos of young women posted on social media and altering them with AI apps to make them look alluring, then reposting them on his pages to draw in customers. He asked those who replied to transfer advance payments through mobile wallets as a deposit, then blocked them and switched off his phones once the money arrived. Two phones seized from him held chats and other evidence of the activity, and the public prosecution took over the investigation. The reports do not give the number of people deceived, the amounts taken or the number of women whose photos were used.
Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 02/10/2026
Event date unknownSpainUnidentified video tool
Spain's Policía Nacional said on 11 August 2026 that it had arrested in Murcia a suspect who tried to obtain electronic signature certificates in other people's names from a company that issues them. During the company's video identity checks the suspect appeared on camera holding a forged DNI identity card while AI software modified the suspect's face in real time to match the photo on the forged document. Police say the suspect made 38 attempts using the identities of more than 30 real citizens and succeeded in impersonating multiple victims, aiming to use the signatures for later scams. A short processing delay in the face-modification software made the digital mask disappear for barely a second, exposing the suspect's real face to the issuer's security staff.
Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 02/10/2026
Event date unknownUnited KingdomUnidentified video tool
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.
Core concern High reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 18/09/2026