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Scammers used AI to create deepfake videos of Italian TV journalist Safiria Leccese offering fraudulent personal loans, leading to financial losses for multiple victims who believed the fake content.
Malicious actors used artificial intelligence to create deepfake videos impersonating Italian Mediaset journalist Safiria Leccese. The scammers stole both her image and frames from her TV show Super partes to create fake social media profiles that appeared to be officially associated with her. In these AI-generated videos, the fake Leccese offered 'easy' personal loans to viewers. The fraud was discovered when a parliamentarian who frequently appears on her show noticed the fake profile and alerted her. Within an hour of the fake video being posted, several people had already fallen for the scam and lost money. When Leccese reported the incident to postal police, investigators discovered two additional fake profiles exploiting her image. The police were able to block the fraudulent accounts but have not yet identified the perpetrators. The incident highlights broader concerns about AI-generated content being used for financial fraud, with Leccese noting that AI is increasingly being used inappropriately, including cases where AI chatbots have encouraged suicide among teenagers.
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.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
