Purported Russian-Linked Network Allegedly Used Deepfake of Maria Ressa on Facebook and Bing to Promote Cryptocurrency Scam Targeting Filipinos
February 6, 2024
A purportedly Russian-linked scam network allegedly circulated an AI-generated deepfake of journalist Maria Ressa on Facebook and Microsoft Bing. The video reportedly manipulated a 2022 interview to falsely depict Ressa endorsing cryptocurrency. Fraudulent websites allegedly impersonating Rappler and CNN Philippines reportedly amplified the scam. Investigators reportedly linked the operation to a fraudulent network targeting Filipino audiences. Meta and Microsoft removed the content, but similar scams allegedly continue to resurface.
- Alleged deployer
- td-globus-contract, russian-linked-scam-network, m1-shop
- Alleged developer
- unknown-deepfake-technology-developers, unknown-ai-voice-cloning-developers
- Alleged harmed parties
- rappler, public-trust-in-media-institutions, potential-cryptocurrency-scam-victims, maria-ressa, filipino-social-media-users, cnn-philippines
Source
Data from the AI Incident Database (AIID). Cite this incident: https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/919
Data source
Incident data is from the AI Incident Database (AIID).
When citing the database as a whole, please use:
McGregor, S. (2021) Preventing Repeated Real World AI Failures by Cataloging Incidents: The AI Incident Database. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI-21). Virtual Conference.
Pre-print on arXiv · Database snapshots & citation guide
We use weekly snapshots of the AIID for stable reference. For the official suggested citation of a specific incident, use the “Cite this incident” link on each incident page.