A gallery owner in Nottingham was defrauded by scammers using AI deepfake technology to impersonate actor Pierce Brosnan, resulting in £30,000 in losses and the closure of her gallery.
In early 2023, Simone Simms, owner of a gallery in Long Eaton, contacted what she believed to be Pierce Brosnan's legitimate Facebook page to request an art exhibition. Scammers used AI deepfake technology to create convincing video calls and voice messages impersonating the 71-year-old actor, appearing to call from his Hawaii home. The fraudsters exchanged around 200 messages with Simms via Telegram, including voice notes with Brosnan's distinctive Irish accent discussing the exhibition. During video calls, the deepfake showed Brosnan's face but claimed technical issues prevented audio. Simms sent £3,000 to the scammers for 'shipping fees' and sold £20,000 worth of tickets, including £500 VIP meet-and-greet packages. The real Pierce Brosnan discovered advertisements for the fake exhibition online and issued a cease-and-desist letter through his lawyers in November 2023. Upon realizing the deception, Simms refunded all £20,000 in ticket sales but her reputation was severely damaged. She was forced to close her gallery in August 2024 after the incident left her unable to recover financially and professionally.
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