AI incident #1681 ·
Georgia Retired Couple Reportedly Lost Nearly $800,000 in Cryptocurrency Scam Using Purported AI-Generated 'Ghost Site'
What happened
A retired Gwinnett County, Georgia, couple reported losing nearly $800,000 after a stranger contacted Jerry Dunaway on WhatsApp and encouraged cryptocurrency trading. Police reportedly told the couple that scammers used an AI-generated "ghost site" to manipulate the account information he saw. The specific AI tool and developer were not identified. The loss was discovered when a larger withdrawal failed.
Editor's notes (AI Incident Database)
(1) Incident date anchored to the first public report because the exact date of first financial loss is not established; (2) reporting places the initial contact in 03/2025 and discovery of the loss in early 06/2025; (3) technical attribution varies across sources, with FOX 5 relaying police characterization of an AI-generated "ghost site" while other outlets use broader descriptions; (4) Incident ID created 09/08/2026.
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 (3)
Coverage catalogued by the AI Incident Database. Titles link to the original publisher; the text is not reproduced here.
Who was involved
- Alleged deployer
- Scammers Investment scam operators Cybercriminals Cryptocurrency scammers
- Alleged developer
- Generative AI developers
- Alleged harmed party
- Mindy Dunaway Jerry Dunaway Financial scam victims Elderly investors Elderly individuals Cryptocurrency scam victims
AI systems implicated
WhatsAppGenerative AI systemsFake investment platformsCryptocurrency trading platforms
Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)
- Risk domain
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- Risk subdomain
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- Causal entity
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- Intent
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- Timing
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- Harm level
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Related incidents on the AI Incident Database
Linked by AIID editors or by its text-similarity model.
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