19 May 2026United StatesSuspected AI voice cloning of a mortgage loan officer, combined with a spoofed phone number and a look-alike email domain (tool not identified; attribution by the victims and CertifID)
A married couple in their sixties buying a US$460,000 condo in Hudsonville, near Grand Rapids, Michigan, received an email on 19 May 2026, days before closing, telling them to wire US$66,026.92 for the down payment and closing costs within 24 hours. The email listed a phone number differing from their loan officer's by two digits, and the husband then received a call confirming the instructions in a voice that sounded just like the loan officer. The couple borrowed from family and other sources and wired the money. The day before closing their real loan officer sent the actual statement; the closing was cancelled hours before signing and the money was gone. The husband now believes the call came from a spoofed number using AI-assisted voice cloning; Tyler Adams of CertifID, which is working with the couple and federal officials, said someone's email in the transaction was probably compromised and that the scammers likely cloned the loan officer's voice from social-media clips. The sender's address had two extra letters ('UnitedsMortgages' instead of 'UnitedMortgage'). Neither the lender nor the loan officer is accused of complicity. The couple later completed the purchase in early June from their mutual fund, reported the loss to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, and describe lasting apprehension and have discussed delaying retirement. CNN reported the case on 15 September 2026; the account the money went to has since closed.
Core concern News report AI involvement: suspected Causal attribution: alleged Medium reported severity Investigation Opened
Added 20/09/2026
Jun 2026 to Aug 2026United StatesAI image-alteration tools (not named by police); described as artificial intelligence used to create sexually explicit altered images from real photographs
On 2 September 2026 Vero Beach police arrested Peter Solomon Ruma, 37, after an investigation into the creation and distribution of altered sexual images of women without their consent. Police say he used artificial intelligence to make sexually explicit altered images of victims from photographs taken from social media and other online sources and then distributed or promoted them. The eight charges (three counts of creating and three of promoting an altered sexual depiction of an identifiable person under Florida Statute 836.13, one count of sexual cyberharassment and one of stalking) relate to one adult woman and to incidents between June and August 2026. Detectives said they had identified several other women believed to have been victimised in the same way, some of whom may not know that images of them exist, and that the conduct may go back several years. According to court documents reported by TCPalm, the woman who came forward knew Ruma and had received sexual text messages since 2018; her face had been cropped from public photographs, including a business profile, and placed on nude bodies. Ruma was held on a US$1 million bond with conditions including no internet access; the investigation continues and further charges are expected.
Core concern News report AI involvement: reported Causal attribution: alleged High reported severity Criminal Charges
Added 20/09/2026
Dec 2024 to Jun 2025United StatesGenerative AI image and video tools (not named; prosecutors said more than 24 AI platforms and over 100 web-based AI models were installed on the defendant's phone)
Between December 2024 and June 2025 James Strahler II, then 37, of Columbus (Upper Arlington), Ohio, harassed at least six women in central Ohio by phone, voicemail, text and web posts, sending them nude images that were both real and AI-generated, threatening rape, referring to their home addresses and demanding nude photos from their mothers. In one case he used AI to make pornographic videos depicting a victim with her father and sent them to her co-workers. He also posted AI-generated sexual images of boys from his community, morphing their faces onto other bodies. Prosecutors said he had installed more than 24 AI platforms and more than 100 web-based AI models on his phone. He pleaded guilty in April 2026 to cyberstalking, producing obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse and publication of digital forgeries, and on 8 September 2026 Chief U.S. District Judge Sarah D. Morrison sentenced him to 180 months in prison. The U.S. Attorney called it the first conviction in the nation under the 2025 Take It Down Act.
Core concern Official statement republishedNews report AI involvement: supported Causal attribution: established High reported severity Criminal Charges
Added 18/09/2026
14 Sept 2026United StatesAI image- and video-generation tools (not identified), used to create non-consensual sexual deepfakes
On 14 September 2026 Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the seizure of 12 domain names used to disseminate, publish and sell non-consensual AI-generated sexual 'deepfake' videos. His office said individuals under investigation had used AI image- and video-creation tools to turn photos and videos of approximately 1,200 real people, overwhelmingly women, into hyper-realistic sexual imagery without consent. The victims included actors, politicians, athletes, musicians, activists and social-media influencers. WIRED and outside researchers reported that many videos reposted content from the defunct MrDeepFakes platform and that dozens of politicians appeared on the sites; investigations into who ran them are ongoing.
Core concern Official statementNews report AI involvement: supported Causal attribution: supported High reported severity Investigation Opened
Added 17/09/2026
Oct 2025United StatesAI voice- and video-cloning / deepfake tools (not identified in the inspected reporting)
From around October 2025, criminals used AI to clone the image, voice, name, signature and firm logo of Ángel Leal, a long-established immigration attorney in Doral, Florida. They created fake videos, look-alike websites, forged contracts and even fabricated Zoom 'immigration hearings' to persuade immigrants to pay for legal services Leal never provided. Immigrants were defrauded of money, and some believed their cases were progressing when they were not; Leal received one to two defrauded callers a day, changed his phone number, hired an anti-piracy firm that removed thousands of fake profiles and videos, and reported the fraud to local police and federal authorities.
Core concern News report AI involvement: supported Causal attribution: supported Medium reported severity Investigation Opened
Added 17/09/2026