A 72-year-old New Zealand grandmother lost $224,000 after being deceived by an AI-generated deepfake video of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon endorsing cryptocurrency investment, which was used by scammers to facilitate a sophisticated fraud scheme.
In July 2023, Jill Creasy, a 72-year-old grandmother from Taranaki, New Zealand, encountered an AI-generated deepfake video advertisement on Facebook featuring Prime Minister Christopher Luxon encouraging pensioners to invest in cryptocurrency. The realistic-looking video was part of a sophisticated international scam operation that also created deepfakes of other public figures including TVNZ broadcaster Jenny May Clarkson and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters. After responding to the advertisement, Creasy was contacted by a scammer calling himself Adam Manolas, who claimed to be a Terma Group investment adviser. Over 26 days, Manolas used remote access software called AnyDesk to gain control of Creasy's computer and transferred $224,000 from her savings and inheritance through a series of payments to purchase Bitcoin via Easy Crypto and Binance platforms. The scammers promised an 8.5% return and told Creasy her investment had grown to nearly $320,000, but when dividend payments failed to materialize in August, she realized she had been defrauded. Computer experts traced her Bitcoin to a holding account containing nearly $1 billion in cryptocurrency and receiving $3 million daily from other victims, suggesting a large-scale international criminal network. Both TSB bank and Easy Crypto had contacted Creasy with concerns about the transactions, but she verified them as legitimate due to her trust in the scam. The Financial Markets Authority later issued public warnings about these deepfake scam advertisements.
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