AI incident ·
Purported Deepfake Impersonating Dubai Crown Prince Reportedly Used to Defraud Filipino Domestic Worker
On this page 6 sections
In brief
An AI system built by Synthetic Video Generation Technology Developers, Synthetic Media Generation Technology Developers and 1 other and deployed by Scammers In Nigeria, Scammers and 4 others allegedly harmed Whatsapp Users, Targets Of Scams In The United Arab Emirates and 8 others.
- Risk domain
- Not classified
- Occurred
- Coverage
- 2 reports
What happened
A Filipino domestic worker identified as "Maria" reportedly paid ₱100,000 (about $1,625) after a scammer deployed purportedly manipulated real-time video to impersonate Dubai Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed during WhatsApp calls. The scammer reportedly claimed the money was for a marriage certificate and "royal membership card" that would help her secure a job in Dubai. Maria reportedly ended contact after noticing that the Facebook account was based in Nigeria.
Laws on record for this risk area
No instrument on record yet covers this risk area where it happened. See the open queue.
Matched from the record's risk category and country to the instruments in effect recorded here: a law listed covers the area, which is not a finding that it applies to this incident. A reviewer can correct the match in the repository (data/external/incident_overrides.yaml).
News reports (2)
Titles link to the original publisher; report text is not reproduced here.
Who was involved
- Alleged deployer
- Scammers In Nigeria, Scammers, Romance Scammers, Employment Scammers, Cybercriminals, Synthetic Media Creators
- Alleged developer
- Synthetic Video Generation Technology Developers, Synthetic Media Generation Technology Developers, Deepfake Technology Developers
- Alleged harmed party
- Whatsapp Users, Targets Of Scams In The United Arab Emirates, Targets Of Scams, Targets Of Romance Scams, Targets Of Employment Scams, Social Media Users, Maria (Victim Of Dubai Prince Impersonation Scam), Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Facebook Users, Targets Of Fraudulent Professional Opportunities
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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- Sectors
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- Countries
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Source record: incident #1570 on the AI Incident Database · all 2 reports