Description: Over about five months in 2025, Paul Davis, a Southampton, UK man, reports that he was repeatedly targeted by scammers using purported deepfake videos and images of celebrities including Jennifer Aniston, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Ellie Goulding. The perpetrators allegedly rotated personas to sustain a romance and prize scam, extracting £200 in gift cards. This case suggests a new shift from one-off celebrity deepfakes to persistent, multi-persona targeting of a single vulnerable victim.
Editor Notes: Timeline note: This incident ID uses 06/28/2025 as its incident date, marking the first local press report (Reece Barrett's reporting in the Southern Daily Echo). The reported activity had been ongoing for approximately five months prior to that date. Evolving reporting on this incident tends to reference Incidents 901 in particular and 1126 occasionally.
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The OECD AI Incidents and Hazards Monitor (AIM) automatically collects and classifies AI-related incidents and hazards in real time from reputable news sources worldwide.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: Deepfake technology developers and Synthetic audio generation technology developers developed an AI system deployed by Scammers, which harmed Paul Davis , General public of United Kingdom , General public of Southampton, United Kingdom , Emotionally vulnerable individuals , Jennifer Aniston , Mark Zuckerberg , Elon Musk and Ellie Goulding.
Alleged implicated AI systems: WhatsApp , Deepfake technology and Synthetic audio generation technology
Incident Stats
Risk Subdomain
A further 23 subdomains create an accessible and understandable classification of hazards and harms associated with AI
4.3. Fraud, scams, and targeted manipulation
Risk Domain
The Domain Taxonomy of AI Risks classifies risks into seven AI risk domains: (1) Discrimination & toxicity, (2) Privacy & security, (3) Misinformation, (4) Malicious actors & misuse, (5) Human-computer interaction, (6) Socioeconomic & environmental harms, and (7) AI system safety, failures & limitations.
- Malicious Actors & Misuse
Entity
Which, if any, entity is presented as the main cause of the risk
Human
Timing
The stage in the AI lifecycle at which the risk is presented as occurring
Post-deployment
Intent
Whether the risk is presented as occurring as an expected or unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Intentional


