Event date unknownHong Kong SAR ChinaUnidentified video tool
Hong Kong police described a syndicate that used deepfake romantic personas to induce investments by people in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. SCMP reported alleged criminal proceeds exceeding HK$34 million and a January 2025 operation arresting thirty-one suspects. An official police budget reply separately identifies that January operation and the amount involved. The first scam date, number of affected people and individual loss allocations are unknown. A different October 2024 operation involving twenty-seven arrests is kept separate.
Core concern Medium reported severity
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 30/09/2026
Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnidentified image tool
BitDegree reports an account by Bitcoin adviser Terence Michael about a client who transferred his retirement savings to someone posing as a trader and romantic partner. Michael reportedly tried to stop the transfers and said the scammer later admitted using AI-generated photos. The client also bought a plane ticket. The original social post could not be read directly, and the client's identity, location and first event date are unknown. A later explanatory article's detailed live-deepfake claims are not independently established.
Core concern Medium reported severity
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 30/09/2026
Event date unknownCanadaUnidentified video tool
A report relaying W5's investigation describes a Prince Edward Island man who lost C$600,000 after an online video falsely presented a cryptocurrency investment as associated with Dragon's Den. The report identifies the two Canadian accounts as deepfake scams. He reportedly increased his payments while being shown fake profits and could not withdraw the funds. His first contact date and the specific generation method are unknown.
Core concern High reported severity
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 30/09/2026
Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified video tool
A Leesburg man told WKMG that he lost nearly $45,000 after a purported Elon Musk giveaway and subsequent investment offers. He described personalised video messages, payments, depleted accounts and maxed-out credit cards. The outlet presents the case in its AI deepfake investigation. He also said his wife wanted a divorce because of the scam; no completed divorce or loss of his home is established.
Core concern Medium reported severity
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 30/09/2026
Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified voice-cloning tool
A Chicago-area man told ABC7 that he sent $10,000 in cryptocurrency to someone posing as Elon Musk. The outlet reports that the scammer used AI-assembled voice messages using Musk's voice, alongside social media messages, apparent investment returns and a promised vehicle. The man said he could not retrieve the money after several months and was struggling to pay ordinary bills. The beginning of the contact and the technical creation of the messages remain unknown.
Core concern Medium reported severity
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 30/09/2026
Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnidentified video tool
AFP reported on 3 July 2026 that a Filipino domestic worker, who asked that a real name and age be withheld, met a scammer posing as a Dubai prince on a dating site and then took part in WhatsApp video calls in which the scammer appeared on screen as the prince. AFP described the suitor as an AI deepfake, said it saw a recording of one call in which the voice did not match the prince's voice, and said it was unclear which AI tools were used. The worker paid 100,000 pesos (about US$1,625) for a supposed marriage certificate and 'royal membership card' that would help secure a job in Dubai, and AFP said the worker lost a year's worth of savings. When the scammer then asked for a further 60,000 pesos for a hotel booking, the worker became suspicious, noticed that the Facebook account was based in Nigeria, and ended contact. The account rests on one AFP interview carried by other outlets. The dates of the events are not stated.
Core concern Medium reported severity
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 30/09/2026
Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnidentified image and video tool
The Daily Echo (29 June 2025), the Daily Mail (1 July 2025), and The Sun and the New York Post (2 July 2025) reported that a Southampton resident said the resident had been 'relentlessly' sent AI-generated or doctored celebrity images and videos on Facebook for about five months, with a fake prize certificate and requests for an activation fee to unlock a prize of £500,000 and a car. The resident said one persona presented as a celebrity said she loved the resident and asked for money, and that the resident paid £200 in Apple gift cards. The resident also said the messages were affecting the resident's mental health and said an acquaintance had lost over £1,000 to the same kind of scam (second-hand, not counted here). A University of Southampton AI expert described the messages as a phishing scam using an AI-generated prize certificate. All outlets rest on the resident's own account, and none reports verifying the messages. The start date is not established.
Core concern Low reported severity
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 29/09/2026
Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnidentified voice-cloning tool (suspected)
In a 4 February 2025 report by Hi-Line Today, the owner of a game and coffee store in a Havre shopping mall said an employee received a call on a personal phone that appeared to come from the employee's own number and carried what the employee described as the owner's voice. The owner said the scammers had also duplicated the owner's number. The article says the store reported that the scam compromised bank details and caused monetary losses; the owner said the employee was not blamed. The reporter describes the scam as using AI voice replication. The only support for a cloned voice is the employee's claim, relayed by the owner.
Core concern Low reported severity
AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 29/09/2026
Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnidentified video tool
Journalist Nahuel Saa (La Criti) reported in September 2026 that the 79-year-old telenovela actor Jorge Martínez, who was saving a sum in dollars, had fallen for two consecutive online scams. In the first, he became interested in a supposed investment platform that used fake videos of Lionel Messi and Javier Milei created with artificial intelligence, transferred money, and received calls for about two weeks showing growing interest. When the callers asked where to send 19,300 pesos of 'interest', he gave his bank account, and that afternoon his four accounts had been emptied. He noted that the callers' numbers were from Spain and England. Soon after, callers posing as Temu promised him a 500,000-peso loyalty bonus, asked for his account, and took the 1,400 dollars he had deposited; no AI element is reported in that second scam.
AI relation unknown Medium reported severity Media Coverage
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 29/09/2026
Event date unknownBrazilUnidentified facial recognition system
The Espírito Santo Civil Police (Defa, the fraud and forgery unit) said a 27-year-old man was arrested on a warrant in Serra on 22 September 2026, suspected of defrauding a personal trainer of more than R$100,000. According to the police, the suspect offered a car in exchange for the victim's motorcycle; during the negotiation he persuaded the victim to perform a facial-recognition procedure, saying it was needed to transfer the car's ownership; the biometric was later used to contract a vehicle financing in the victim's name without his authorisation, and weeks after the exchange the victim discovered that the car he had received did not belong to the suspect and was a rental. The loss, combining the motorcycle and the fraudulently contracted financing, exceeded R$100,000. The suspect, who police say had been arrested in São Paulo in July 2025 in a 'love scam' case, was taken to the Centro de Triagem at the Rodrigo Figueiredo da Rosa prison complex and remains at the disposal of the courts. The financing provider and the facial-recognition system are not identified, and the reports do not say how the captured biometric was used to pass the financing.
Contextual tracker case Medium reported severity Criminal Charges
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 26/09/2026
Event date unknownUnited KingdomUnidentified video tool
Surrey Live reported on 22 September 2026 that a 72-year-old Guildford pensioner, who asked to remain anonymous, lost 40,000 pounds to an investment scam that used a deepfake video of Nigel Farage. The apparently AI-generated clip showed the Reform UK leader angrily challenging Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey in front of a fake BBC Question Time backdrop, and viewers were directed to a supposed news article promising large returns for small investments. Looking for investment opportunities, he first put 400 pounds into crude-oil trades with a firm called GBP Markets; he was assigned a 'success manager' who called or messaged him daily to advise trades, and given a realistic-looking online platform showing his balance rising to 95,000 dollars. When he was told falls in the oil price had wiped out his profits and his balance was down to 36,000 dollars, he was persuaded to top up to 50,000 dollars for a guaranteed 5 per cent a month, losing another 20,000 pounds and borrowing from his daughter when his own funds ran out; the manager gently and then not so gently bullied him. Two requests to withdraw money were ignored. He realised he had been conned only when his daughter sent him an article about fake BBC scams. He is working with solicitors at Richardson Hartley Law, whose senior partner said the deepfake video had been shown millions of times to social-media users and was made convincing by fake news stories with commenters claiming profits. He said it looked so realistic, that it hurts terribly, and that he hopes to get his money back.
AI relation unknown Medium reported severity Media Coverage
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 1 source · Added 23/09/2026