Deepfake videos of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella were created to fraudulently advertise cryptocurrency investment schemes, leading to financial losses for victims who deposited money into fake trading platforms.
Sophisticated deepfake videos were created featuring Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella promoting fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes. The fake Meloni video promised a 'guaranteed income of 40,000 euros per month' through a platform that supposedly had state licensing and central bank approval. The deepfake used telemarketing-style language claiming people could 'change their life forever' but needed to hurry because 'spots are limited.' The scheme required an initial deposit of 250 euros, which is typical for this type of fraud. Victims were guided by phone to make initial deposits to foreign, untraceable companies, then shown fake profits on fraudulent trading platforms. Personal assistants encouraged victims to reinvest rather than withdraw, and when victims eventually tried to cash out, the assistants disappeared and the money was lost. Italy's financial regulator Consob blocked these advertisements and obscured four deceptive websites, marking the first time they used new powers under the 'capital law' to force telecommunications service providers to block sites advertising unauthorized financial activities.
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
No population impact data reported.