13 Oct 2025 to 26 Nov 2025BrazilUnidentified video tool
The Federal District Civil Police (PCDF) in Brazil say a criminal group ran fake online donation campaigns that used images of elderly people, children and seriously ill people, and used artificial intelligence tools, including deepfakes, to make fake videos with the images of the singer Gusttavo Lima and the Catholic priests Marcelo Rossi and Fábio de Melo. The posts circulated on social media and sent people to pages imitating legitimate charity appeals; the money went to bank accounts the group controlled. Police say one company linked to the group received 215,575 transactions totalling about R$9.8 million between 13 October and 26 November 2025, mostly of R$30 and R$50, and that the number of transactions does not necessarily match the number of victims. On 28 October 2026 the PCDF launched Operação Cáritas with six preventive arrest warrants and search warrants in the Federal District and four states; five suspects had been arrested by the time of most reports (g1 reported six). How the police established that the videos were AI-made is not disclosed, and no response from the people depicted is reported.
Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 29/10/2026
17 Jan 2025 to 4 Nov 2025United StatesGemini and Sora (reported)
The Queens District Attorney charged a former candidate for New York City Council District 29 with forgery in June 2026, alleging that from January to November 2025 he posted AI-generated images, fake news articles and videos on his campaign's Facebook and Instagram accounts. Prosecutors say subpoena records and search warrants show he prompted an AI platform to face-swap himself into a photo shaking hands with former Council Member Robert Holden for a fake New York Post endorsement story, used Google Gemini to make a fake Amsterdam News article saying his opponent, Council Member Lynn Schulman, was questioned by police, and posted a Sora-generated newscast announcing that she had dropped out. They also allege AI videos of apparent police officers and children endorsing him. In October 2025 Holden's chief of staff told the Queens Daily Eagle the handshake image was fake and AI-generated, and Schulman said her opponent was lying about her and creating fake news. The accused said his accounts were hacked and later told the AP he would not confirm or deny making the posts.
Core concern Low reported severity Criminal Charges
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources · Added 19/10/2026
2024United StatesUnidentified voice-cloning tool (suspected)
While campaigning in 2024 for a Broward County court seat, Lauren Peffer, now a county judge, sought the endorsement of the South Florida Sun Sentinel editorial board. Asked to back her claim of an image crisis in Florida's judiciary, she cited a self-published book by a fired employee of the Ninth Judicial Circuit and supplied a recording purportedly of a phone call about the book between Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz, Justice Renatha Francis and the circuit's chief judge, Lisa Munyon. The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission's notice of formal charges, filed in May 2025, said the recording was fabricated, likely using computer manipulation or generative AI, and that while the voices resembled those of the participants, the manner of speech, tone and much of the content were objectively unrealistic. The notice said she had shared it despite clear evidence of its inauthenticity and had perpetuated a false perception of illegal, unethical or immoral conduct by the justices, a chief judge and others in the judicial branch. Peffer apologised, said the content was created by a third party with whom she had no ties, and testified that she could not explain why she had thought it valid. According to Bloomberg Law, the Florida Supreme Court on 9 October 2026 suspended her for 30 days and fined her $10,000, saying her conduct undermined public confidence in the judiciary by implicating sitting justices; the two justices whose voices were faked recused. Who made the recording, and with what tool, is not reported.
Core concern Low reported severity Regulatory Action
AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution alleged · 6 sources · Added 12/10/2026
2026United StatesUnidentified video tool
The Independence Institute, a libertarian-leaning Colorado think tank opposing Proposition NN on the November 2026 ballot, posted a video on its social media accounts in which an AI-generated likeness of Democratic state Sen. Cathy Kipp, who sponsored the bill that referred the measure to voters, appears as a grocery store clerk who keeps a customer's change and says it will help educate children. CBS Colorado reported that the institute made the video in response to remarks Kipp made on the Senate floor in April 2026. Kipp filed a campaign finance complaint with the Colorado Secretary of State's office on 5 August 2026, according to Colorado Newsline, alleging that the video lacked the disclosure a 2024 state law requires on deepfakes of candidates and officeholders; the video carried only a small line reading "AI generated content because who gets a human cashier these days?". Kipp said it was "disturbing and wrong to use a deepfake, AI-generated video of someone without their consent". The office decided on 19 August to investigate; a spokesperson said it was the first complaint filed within the statutory timeframe for consideration. The institute says the video is satire, which the law exempts, that the law covers candidates rather than ballot measures, and that applying it would violate the First Amendment. CBS Colorado reported on 9 October 2026 that the institute's lawyer had filed a motion to dismiss and planned to sue Kipp and the state for attorney fees, and that the state elections division disputed the satire defence. No decision is reported.
Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution disputed · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 11/10/2026
Apr 2026NigeriaUnidentified video tool
Premium Times reported on 8 October 2026 that deepfake videos of Nigerian public figures were used in sponsored Facebook posts to promote fraudulent investment schemes. According to the report, a sponsored video on the page Nigeria Daily Report in mid-April 2026 showed a figure of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan telling viewers they could invest a one-off N430,000 to earn N14 million monthly; the senator did not make the video and had disclaimed any endorsement of investment platforms. In May 2026 a deepfake video of presidential candidate Peter Obi on the page Nigeria Daily Bulletin asked users to invest N350,000 to earn N4.5 million, linking to a website that cloned Channels Television. Another video cloned the voice of WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to promote a scheme, and she warned on X against videos using AI and deepfakes to impersonate her. The newspaper reports that Meta confirmed the ads and videos violated its policy, that the posts stayed on the platform for months, and that they were removed in July 2026, one of them in the first week of July, after the newspaper contacted Meta. No deceived investor is identified, the tool and the creators are not identified, and the deepfake descriptions are the newspaper's and the depicted people's.
Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 09/10/2026
Sept 2026Event location unknownUnidentified video tool
Kapitalis reported on 28 September 2026 that Professor Nissaf Ben Alaya had issued a categorical denial of a fraudulent video circulating on social media, which the outlet describes as a deepfake generated with AI. In the statement, which Kapitalis reproduces, the professor says the video uses the professor's image and a voice attributed to the professor to promote a medicine presented as a treatment for prostate cancer. The statement says the video appears to reuse old footage, including from the COVID-19 period, with a voice or words artificially added, a method the professor attributes to AI. The professor says no permission was given, that the professor has never advertised a health product, and asks platforms and the competent bodies to identify and remove the content. The statement warns that such videos can harm the reputation of the people shown and put the public's health at risk. The report does not say who made the video or whether it has been removed.
Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 05/10/2026
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 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
Sept 2026Event location unknownUnidentified video tool (suspected)
Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, wife of former Malaysian prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, died on 28 September 2026 aged 100. BuzzKini reported on 30 September that a TikTok account had posted a video of Mahathir grieving beside her body, edited to show a woman dancing next to him, and another clip of the moment he raised his hands in prayer edited with dancing movements while seated in a wheelchair. BuzzKini says the edits are believed to have been made with AI, and that many social media users condemned them and asked the regulator and police to act. On 2 October the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said it was examining social media content believed to use AI to manipulate footage of Mahathir in mourning, had contacted the platforms concerned, and that action could follow under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 if a breach was found.
Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources · Added 03/10/2026
Event date unknownIndiaUnidentified image tool (suspected)
Divya Marathi reported on 8 September 2026 that supporters of Public Works minister Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale alleged that the minister's photograph had been morphed using artificial intelligence and linked to a dance programme in Satara. According to the complaint, the photo was allegedly edited and circulated on social media from a YouTube channel, combining photographs from two different events and giving them a false context; supporters said this was done to defame the minister politically. Supporters, including the municipal council president and the BJP group leader, went to Satara city police station on Tuesday and complained against the YouTube channel. On a named complainant's first information report, police registered a case against four social media handles and account holders under sections 353(2), 356(2) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and section 67 of the Information Technology Act. Police accepted the complaint and began examining the posts, the photographs and the circumstances; Divya Marathi says the facts will become clear only after an investigation of what alteration was made to the photograph with AI and who created and spread the posts.
Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 03/10/2026
2024IrelandUnidentified image tool
Gráinne Seoige, a broadcaster who stood for Fianna Fáil in Galway West in Ireland's 2024 general election, told RTÉ's Prime Time in January 2026 that people close to her alerted her during the campaign to sexualised images of her made with deepfake technology. She says the AI-generated pornographic image was disseminated through WhatsApp, shared hundreds if not thousands of times by her account, and that when gardaí sought its origin some recipients refused to cooperate, so the investigation hit a dead end. She kept silent during the campaign and has described the experience as deeply traumatising, with shame and humiliation lasting almost a year and a half. In a September 2026 interview relayed by RSVP Live from the Sunday Independent she described night terrors of faceless men tearing her clothes off and wearing a long puffer coat everywhere so her body could not be seen. She has since appeared before the Oireachtas media committee (Irish Independent, 21 January 2026), and made a Virgin Media documentary on deepfake abuse, scheduled for broadcast on 5 October 2026. In passages from it quoted by RSVP Live and the Irish Sun on 4 October 2026 she says she was shown the image in September or October 2024, that it made her not want to go outside, that she moved away from her home and that she has had therapy; she also says she believes the image was politically motivated. The Irish Times, reviewing the documentary on 5 October 2026, reports that in it she learns from a Dublin technology company that further images taken from her Instagram account have been manipulated with deepfake software, which was news to her. The tool used to make the image and the person who made it are not identified.
Core concern High reported severity Media Coverage
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 7 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 28/09/2026
9 Sept 2026IndiaUnidentified video tool
A security guard in Bengaluru, originally from Odisha, told the Times of India that on 9 September 2026 he answered a WhatsApp video call in which a face and voice presented as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay introduced himself in Hindi, asked his name, work and where he lived and pressed him to accept financial help. A 'manager' then promised Rs 11 lakh, said Rs 5 lakh had been allotted to him and asked for a Rs 5,000 exchange charge, then Rs 18,000 to unlock a supposedly locked PIN; a caller posing as a CBI officer demanded more than Rs 50,000 as a fine. The fraudsters sent a fake allotment letter and a purported CBI officer's identity proof. He paid more than Rs 1.04 lakh through a digital payment app before refusing a further Rs 50,000 demand, called the 1930 cybercrime helpline and went to Byappanahalli police, who registered a case under the Information Technology Act. The Times of India says the fraudster allegedly used a deepfake AI-generated video and calls it the first such case reported in the city. No arrest is reported, and no link to the Tamil Nadu CB-CID deepfake case or its Alwar arrest has been established.
Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 28/09/2026
5 Sept 2026 to 20 Sept 2026United StatesUnidentified video tool
On Saturday 19 September 2026 Vikki Goodwin, an Austin state representative running against Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, filed a complaint with a notarised affidavit at the Travis County Sheriff's Office accusing Patrick of violating Texas's 2019 election deepfake law, after his campaign posted two ads (5 and 12 September, on his non-government X account) containing AI-generated videos of her. In the affidavit she stated: 'I did not personally do or say the things depicted in the video; although the "person" in the video appears to be me, it was not actually me', and that the video was posted 'with the intent to deceive Texans, injure a candidate, or influence the result of an election'. She told KUT the ads made it look as though she favoured raising taxes, which she says she opposes in every campaign speech. The sheriff's office confirmed receipt of the complaint without further comment. Patrick's campaign spokesman told the New York Times the material was 'an obvious parody produced to entertain' and that none of it was published within 30 days of the election; the posts were taken down the day after the complaint, according to Goodwin's communications director. Goodwin said she doubted the sheriff's office would follow up now that the posts were removed. A conviction under the law is a class A misdemeanour.
Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution disputed · 4 sources, 3 underlying accounts · Added 22/09/2026
19 Mar 2024 to 19 Sept 2026NetherlandsUnidentified video tool
In March 2024 the newspaper AD revealed that a large number of Dutch women in public life, including artists, television presenters, Olympic athletes, current and former ministers, mayors and members of the royal family, appeared in manipulated pornographic videos on an online platform with 13 million monthly visitors, later identified as MrDeepFakes. Dozens of women filed police complaints and several spoke publicly: one presenter said she was preparing a complaint, a party leader said the video felt like 'digital rape', another presenter said she would file a complaint 'because tomorrow it could happen to young girls of sixteen', a presenter-entrepreneur did so 'to prevent new, young victims', and a member of parliament, told of a video by the House security service, went public rather than 'keep it small'. On 19 and 20 September 2026 AD, and the Public Prosecution Service (OM) confirming to NOS, reported that after more than a year of investigation the OM will prosecute a 74-year-old man from Noord-Holland, who is not in custody, for making the videos (Hart van Nederland, citing AD, says he is suspected of making and distributing them); images of about sixty well-known Dutch people and politicians were found on his devices, AD reported that he had been the platform's most active Dutch user, and he faces up to two years' imprisonment. The platform's Canadian operator, who removed material at the OM's request and blocked Dutch IP addresses before the site went offline, will not be prosecuted. One of the presenters reported to be among the depicted told AD she was relieved the case would go to court, having experienced the impact of such images herself. No hearing date has been set.
Core concern High reported severity Criminal Charges
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 5 sources, 3 underlying accounts · Added 21/09/2026
Event date unknownIndiaUnidentified video tool
Surat Cyber Crime Police said a publicly available video of Rajya Sabha MP and diamond industrialist Govind Dholakia was manipulated with AI, its audio replaced by a voice-over in which he appeared to say that people holding old coins or currency notes could contact a number and receive lakhs or crores of rupees. The video circulated on Facebook and Instagram alongside fake 'Old Coin Company' profiles using his photos; people who responded were asked to pay Rs 1,000 to 1,500 by UPI as processing or registration fees and were told of a fabricated Reserve Bank of India warning to win their trust. After members of the public contacted Dholakia, his organisation SRK complained to police. Investigators traced the operation to Nuh in Haryana and arrested two men, aged 25 and 30, from Thathaula village; ten bank accounts were linked to them, and nine complaints on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal from across India, totalling about Rs 9.84 crore, were connected to those accounts.
Core concern Medium reported severity Criminal Charges
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 1 source · Added 18/09/2026
Sept 2026IndiaUnidentified video tool
In 2026 AI-generated videos showing a simulated Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay speaking in a fabricated Hindi voice circulated on Facebook and other platforms, urging viewers to contact a WhatsApp number to receive money for education, medical treatment and other needs. The Tamil Nadu Crime Branch-CID detected the videos during routine monitoring, registered a case on 1 September 2026 under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act, and traced the scheme to Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. On 12 September a 28-year-old man from Alwar district was arrested with Rajasthan Police, brought to Tamil Nadu on a transit warrant and remanded in judicial custody; a phone, SIM cards and a CPU were seized. Investigators traced a man in Madhya Pradesh who had lost money, and said people in several states were cheated. The CB-CID is also examining similar videos posted from Facebook accounts suspected to be run from Pakistan. The Principal Sessions Court in Chennai refused bail on 14 October because the investigation was incomplete. On 23 October 2026 the Madras High Court granted him conditional bail, noting that he had been in custody since 12 September, that the investigation was complete, that the chargesheet was ready and that the phone allegedly used had been seized; he must report to the police daily. The prosecution told the court that he had created two Facebook accounts impersonating the Chief Minister, circulated the AI videos and collected Rs 16,000 as registration fees. His counsel said a friend generated the videos using his mobile number and accounts and that he had no knowledge of them. The allegations have not been tested at trial.
Core concern Medium reported severity Criminal Charges
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 5 sources, 4 underlying accounts · Added 18/09/2026
4 Jan 2026United StatesGrok
Ashley St. Clair, a writer and political commentator with about 1 million followers on X, sued xAI in New York on 15 January 2026. She alleges that from on or about 4 January 2026 Grok, prompted by other X users, altered photos of her into sexualized images and published them on X, including one made from a photo of her at 14. She says @Grok told her that her images would not be used or altered without explicit consent, but many more images followed. She also says X's reporting channel found no violation and that X removed her Premium subscription, verification checkmark and monetization. She says she has suffered serious pain, mental distress and humiliation. The same day, xAI sued her in federal court in Texas, arguing that its terms of service required her to sue there. On 23 June 2026 the New York federal court ordered her case transferred to Texas. On 8 July the Second Circuit stayed that order administratively while it considers her mandamus petition, which was still pending on 24 August. On 20 October 2026 the Texas court denied her motion to dismiss xAI's suit, which is set for trial on 1 March 2027. No court has ruled on her allegations about the images.
Core concern High reported severity Lawsuit Ongoing
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 13 sources, 4 underlying accounts · Added 29/01/2026