AI Deepfake Scam Uses Irish Presidential Candidate's Likeness to Promote Fraudulent Investments

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AI-generated deepfake videos featuring Irish presidential candidate Heather Humphreys were circulated on Meta platforms, falsely depicting her endorsing fraudulent investment schemes. The realistic videos, created using AI-driven voice and image cloning, misled individuals and prompted warnings from authorities and banks about ongoing scams exploiting public trust.[AI generated]

Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?

The event involves a deepfake video, which is an AI-generated synthetic media, impersonating a public figure to promote fraudulent schemes. The harm is direct and realized, as consumers are warned about scams exploiting trust, indicating actual harm to individuals and communities. The AI system's use in generating the deepfake is central to the incident. Hence, it meets the criteria for an AI Incident due to direct harm caused by the AI system's outputs.[AI generated]
AI principles
AccountabilityPrivacy & data governanceTransparency & explainabilityDemocracy & human autonomy
Industries
Media, social platforms, and marketingFinancial and insurance servicesGovernment, security, and defence
Affected stakeholders
ConsumersWomen
Harm types
Economic/PropertyReputationalPublic interest
Severity
AI incident
AI system task:
Content generation
In other databases
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Articles about this incident or hazard

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Deepfake video of Heather Humphreys reported to Meta

2025-09-11
Irish Examiner
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
The event involves a deepfake video, which is an AI-generated synthetic media, impersonating a public figure to promote fraudulent schemes. The harm is direct and realized, as consumers are warned about scams exploiting trust, indicating actual harm to individuals and communities. The AI system's use in generating the deepfake is central to the incident. Hence, it meets the criteria for an AI Incident due to direct harm caused by the AI system's outputs.
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BOI warning as fraudsters circulate deepfake of Humphreys

2025-09-11
RTE.ie
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
The event explicitly describes the use of AI systems (deepfake technology involving AI-driven voice and image cloning) to create fake videos that are used in scams. This has directly led to harm by misleading people into fraudulent investment schemes, which constitutes harm to communities and individuals. Therefore, this qualifies as an AI Incident due to realized harm caused by the AI system's use in fraud.
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'It's a fake and should be immediately removed' - Heather Humphreys' team warn about deepfake scam video of Áras candidate

2025-09-11
Irish Independent
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
The event explicitly involves AI systems (deepfake AI technology) used maliciously to create fake videos that mislead viewers and promote fraudulent financial schemes. This has directly led to harm by deceiving people and potentially causing financial loss and reputational harm to the individuals impersonated. The involvement of AI in generating the fake content and its use in a scam meets the definition of an AI Incident, as the harm is realized and the AI system's role is pivotal.
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Meta removes deepfake video that hijacked Heather Humphreys' image to lure people into investment scam

2025-09-11
Irish Independent
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
The article explicitly describes the use of AI deepfake technology to create fraudulent videos impersonating public figures to lure people into investment scams, which is a direct harm to individuals' financial property and trust. The AI system's use here is malicious and has caused actual harm, meeting the criteria for an AI Incident. The involvement of AI is clear (deepfake video creation), the harm is realized (investment scams), and the event is not merely a potential risk or a complementary update but a concrete incident of harm.
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Fake Heather Humphreys online video reported to Meta

2025-09-11
TheJournal.ie
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
The event explicitly involves AI systems (deepfake technology) used maliciously to create false videos that have been circulated online. This use of AI has directly led to harm by deceiving the public and promoting fraudulent activity, which constitutes harm to communities and individuals (financial harm and misinformation). Therefore, this qualifies as an AI Incident due to the realized harm caused by the AI-generated content.
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Mayo scam alert: Fraudsters cloning presidential election candidate in fake investment videos | Connaught Telegraph

2025-09-11
Connaught Telegraph
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
The event explicitly mentions the use of AI-driven voice and image cloning (deepfake technology) to create fraudulent videos. These videos are actively circulating and causing harm by misleading people into scams, which constitutes harm to individuals and communities. Therefore, this qualifies as an AI Incident because the AI system's use has directly led to realized harm through fraud and deception.
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Heather Humphreys Deepfake Video Reported to Meta - News Directory 3

2025-09-11
News Directory 3
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
The article explicitly mentions the use of AI to create deepfake videos that were used in a scam to defraud individuals financially. The harm is realized as victims were lured into fraudulent investment schemes based on AI-generated content. The involvement of AI in the creation of the deepfake videos is clear, and the harm caused (financial loss and erosion of trust) fits within the definition of an AI Incident. The reporting to Meta and removal of content is a response but does not negate the incident itself.