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AI incident #1236 ·

Quantum AI and Related AI-Themed Investment Scams Reportedly Used Deepfake Endorsements and Spoofed Media Sites to Solicit Investments

Open on the AI Incident Database 28 news reports Snapshot 7 Sep 2026

What happened

Researchers have described a global AI-themed investment fraud ecosystem using deepfake videos, spoofed news sites, phishing pages, and phone outreach to impersonate celebrities, news outlets, and political leaders. Reports link the scheme to fake trading platforms including Quantum AI and related sites, and to cloaked adtech infrastructure used to route likely victims while hiding scam pages from scanners.

Only the incident metadata is stored here. The underlying news reports are on the AI Incident Database (CC BY-SA 4.0); use the links above to read them.

News reports (26)

Coverage catalogued by the AI Incident Database. Titles link to the original publisher; the text is not reproduced here.

  1. Deepfake Quantum AI Investment Scam Pops Up on Facebook
    darkreading.com · Dark Reading Staff · AIID #6309
  2. Elon Musk used in fake AI videos to promote financial scam
    rmit.edu.au · Lulu Graham · AIID #6308
  3. Slew of deepfake video adverts of Sunak on Facebook raises alarm over AI risk to election
    theguardian.com · Ben Quinn · AIID #4392
  4. Over 100 Deep-Faked Rishi Sunak Ads Found on Meta’s Platform
    fenimoreharper.com · Fenimore Harper · AIID #4393
  5. Deepfake Alert: Fraudulent Crypto Platform Promoted in Doctored Clip of Andrew Forrest on Facebook
    cryptopotato.com · Chayanika Deka · AIID #6330
  6. It's a scam! Celebrities are not getting rich from online investment trading platforms
    accc.gov.au · Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) · AIID #6307
  7. Scam alert: Fake celebrity online investment scams
    scamwatch.gov.au · ScamWatch · AIID #6316
  8. SFC warns public of Quantum AI for suspected virtual asset-related fraud
    apps.sfc.hk · Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) · AIID #6311
  9. Elon Musk deepfake crypto scam highlights risks to Hong Kong as AI-related fraud rises
    scmp.com · Matt Haldane · AIID #6313
  10. Doctored footage and hijacked accounts: anatomy of a deepfake scam network
    thebureauinvestigates.com · Francesca Visser, Niamh McIntyre · AIID #6312
  11. The Emerging Dynamics of Deepfake Scam Campaigns on the Web
    unit42.paloaltonetworks.com · Lucas Hu, Nabeel Mohamed, Billy Melicher · AIID #6314
  12. 'I was scammed out of £75k by Martin Lewis deepfake advert'
    bbc.com · Kate Berry · AIID #6320
  13. We exposed a global AI scam
    which.co.uk · Tali Ramsey · AIID #6277
  14. Quantum AI - Central Bank of Ireland Issues Warning on Unregistered Firm
    centralbank.ie · Central Bank of Ireland, Banc Ceannais na hÉireann · AIID #6310
  15. Deepfake Elon and the Quantum AI Scam
    expatriot116.substack.com · Marguerite Arnold · AIID #6327
  16. Fake CBC ads have flooded X with sketchy headlines. We looked for the source
    cbc.ca · Nora Young, Ivan Angelovski, Christian Paas-Lang · AIID #6306
  17. Fake election news ads are luring people into investment schemes. We got some taken down
    cbc.ca · Christian Paas-Lang, Nora Young, Ivan Angelovski · AIID #6305
  18. Dramatic rise in fake political content on social media as Canada prepares to vote
    theguardian.com · Leyland Cecco · AIID #6867
  19. AI-Related Scams in Retail Trading
    lat.london · Paddy Osborn · AIID #6317
  20. Public warned against Telangana CM’s deepfake video in circulation
    thehindu.com · The Hindu Bureau · AIID #6318
  21. Quantum AI scam: a warning from Which?
    northeastbylines.co.uk · Peter Sagar · AIID #6315
  22. Mayo scam alert: Fraudsters cloning presidential election candidate in fake investment videos
    con-telegraph.ie · The Connaught Telegraph · AIID #6210
  23. When Martin Lewis and Kier Starmer “Team Up” with Quantum AI (Except They Didn’t): The Deepfake Scam Playbook
    tlmartin.ltd.uk · Tristan Martin · AIID #6319
  24. Investment scammers slip through cracks in EU Big Tech law
    investigate-europe.eu · Mei-Ling McNamara, Nico Schmidt, Pascal Hansens · AIID #6331
  25. Which? finds deepfake investment scams on YouTube
    which.co.uk · Tali Ramsey · AIID #6276
  26. Massive AI investment scam network spans 15,500 domains
    malwarebytes.com · Pieter Arntz · AIID #7203

Who was involved

Alleged harmed party
Youtube Users, Victims Of Impersonation Scams, Victims Of Deepfake Enabled Fraud, Steph Mcgovern, Spencer And Stanley, Social Media Users, Smithville International, Rishi Sunak, Richard Branson, Retail Investors, Meta Users, Martin Lewis, Mark Carney, Keir Starmer, Investors, General Public, Forbes, Financial Services Customers, Elon Musk, Elderly Investors, El Universo, Dw News, Domenica In, David Beckham, Daily Mirror, Cryptocurrency Investors, Consumers, Cnn, Bbc

Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)

Causal entity
AI
Intent
Intentional
Timing
Post-deployment
Harm level
—
Sectors
—
Countries
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Risk entries describing this failure mode

Entries from the MIT AI Risk Repository coded to subdomain 4.3.

  • Impersonation/identity theft

    "Impersonation/identity theft - Theft of an individual, group or organisation’s identity by a third-party in order to defraud, mock or otherwise harm them."

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • IP/copyright loss

    "IP/copyright loss - Misuse or abuse of an individual or organisation’s intellectual property, including copyright, trademarks, and patents."

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Dehumanisation/objectification

    "Dehumanisation/objectification - Use or misuse of a technology system to depict and/or treat people as not human, less than human, or as objects."

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Defamation/libel/slander

    "Defamation/libel/slander - Use of a technology system to create, facilitate or amplify false perception(s) about an individual, group, or organisation."

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Financial and business

    "Financial and Business - Use or misuse of a technology system in a manner that damages the financial interests of an individual or group, or which causes strategic, operational, legal or financial harm to a business or...

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Cheating/plagiarism

    "Cheating/plagiarism - Use of another person’s or group’s words or ideas without consent and/or acknowledgement."

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Cybersecurity

    "LLMs may exacerbate cybersecurity risks in various ways (Newman, 2024). Firstly, LLMs may significantly amplify the effectiveness of deceptive operations aimed at tricking people into disclosing sensitive information or...

    Foundational Challenges in Assuring Alignment and Safety of Large Language Models (Anwar2024)

  • Domain-Specific Misuses

    "Improvements in LLMs may exert greater pressure to apply LLMs to various domains, such as health and education (Eloundou et al., 2023). Crude efforts to use LLMs in such domains, however, may incur harm and should be di...

    Foundational Challenges in Assuring Alignment and Safety of Large Language Models (Anwar2024)

Incidents in the same risk subdomain

All incidents in this subdomain