HISPI Project Cerebellum HISPI PROJECT CEREBELLUM

Malta's Prime Minister Robert Abela Reportedly Deepfaked by a Ukrainian National in Cryptocurrency Fraud Targeting Local Residents

July 28, 2025

A 24-year-old Ukrainian woman, Kateryna Izotkina, was arrested in Malta for allegedly using an AI-generated deepfake video of Prime Minister Robert Abela to promote a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. The victims were misled into transferring tens of thousands of euros, with one reported loss of €53,250. Police conducted a controlled delivery and detained the suspect, who has been charged with fraud, money laundering, and related offenses. This incident underscores the need for responsible AI governance, trustworthy AI, and harm prevention measures in the use of AI technology. For those interested in shaping the future of AI and contributing to Project Cerebellum's efforts towards safe and secure AI practices, JOIN US.

This incident maps to HISPI Project Cerebellum TAIM: Govern (establishing regulations and guidelines for the use of deepfake technology in a manner that prevents fraudulent activities).

Matched TAIM controls

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Alleged deployer
kateryna-izotkina, maria-lipinski
Alleged developer
unknown-voice-cloning-technology-developers, unknown-deepfake-technology-developers
Alleged harmed parties
robert-abela, investors-in-malta, investors, general-public-of-malta, general-public, epistemic-integrity

Source

Data from the AI Incident Database (AIID). Cite this incident: https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/1289

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.