Scammers used AI-generated deepfake videos of celebrities including Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, and Brad Pitt to defraud multiple victims out of hundreds of thousands of pounds through elaborate romance and financial scams.
Multiple incidents occurred where scammers created AI-generated deepfake videos of celebrities to conduct sophisticated fraud schemes. In one case, a woman's mother was targeted by someone impersonating Owen Wilson through WhatsApp, who sent an AI-generated video as 'proof' of identity and offered fake employment at Warner Bros paying $5000 monthly for liking social media posts. Another victim, Paul Davis from Southampton, lost £200 in Apple gift cards after being convinced he was communicating with Jennifer Aniston on Facebook, who sent deepfake videos and a fake driving license. The scammers told him she 'loved him' and needed money for Apple subscriptions. A French woman named Anne lost £700,000 to a Brad Pitt impersonator who claimed to need money for cancer treatment, with the scam lasting over a year and involving AI-generated selfies. The Owen Wilson impersonator went as far as arranging for a real estate agent to contact the victim about a house purchase and caretaker arrangement. Paul Davis reported being targeted for five months with dozens of fake celebrity videos daily, including deepfakes of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. The scams used sophisticated AI video generation technology, including Google's Veo 3 model, to create convincing celebrity impersonations.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed