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Incident 1126: Reported Use of Deepfake Video Impersonating Owen Wilson in Romance Scam with Fake Job Payments

Description: A Reddit user reported in May 2025 that her mother is being groomed by scammers using an AI-generated deepfake video impersonating actor Owen Wilson. The scam reportedly began on a game app (Yahtzee with Friends) and shifted to WhatsApp voice calls, with the victim promised a fake Warner Bros job paying small sums via Cash App. The scammer allegedly claims he will buy a house for the victim's family as part of the deception. The video is cited as the main “proof” of authenticity.
Editor Notes: Timeline notes: This incident ID takes 05/16/2025 as its date based on the original Reddit post detailing the alleged details of the case.

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Alleged: Unknown voice cloning technology developer and Unknown deepfake technology developer developed an AI system deployed by Unknown scammers impersonating Owen Wilson , Unknown scammers and Unknown fraudsters, which harmed Unnamed mother of Reddit user Sharp_Ad_8771 , Reddit user Sharp_Ad_8771 , Players of Yahtzee with Friends , Owen Wilson and General public.
Alleged implicated AI systems: Unknown voice cloning technology developer , Unknown deepfake technology developer , Yahtzee with Friends and WhatsApp

Incident Stats

Incident ID
1126
Report Count
5
Incident Date
2025-05-16
Editors
Daniel Atherton

Incident Reports

Reports Timeline

+1
[US] Owen Wilson befriended my mother.
+1
Daughter's desperate plea after mother begins close relationship with fake Owen Wilson
LOSS & RACHEL I was scammed out of hundreds by ‘Jennifer Aniston’ who told me she loved me & needed cash for her ‘Apple subscriptions’Man scammed out of hundreds by 'Jennifer Aniston' who told him 'she loved him'
[US] Owen Wilson befriended my mother.

[US] Owen Wilson befriended my mother.

reddit.com

Daughter's desperate plea after mother begins close relationship with fake Owen Wilson

Daughter's desperate plea after mother begins close relationship with fake Owen Wilson

ladbible.com

My mother fell in love with an A-list celebrity she met online - the video is so convincing she refuses to believe it's fake

My mother fell in love with an A-list celebrity she met online - the video is so convincing she refuses to believe it's fake

dailymail.co.uk

LOSS & RACHEL I was scammed out of hundreds by ‘Jennifer Aniston’ who told me she loved me & needed cash for her ‘Apple subscriptions’

LOSS & RACHEL I was scammed out of hundreds by ‘Jennifer Aniston’ who told me she loved me & needed cash for her ‘Apple subscriptions’

thesun.co.uk

Man scammed out of hundreds by 'Jennifer Aniston' who told him 'she loved him'

Man scammed out of hundreds by 'Jennifer Aniston' who told him 'she loved him'

ladbible.com

[US] Owen Wilson befriended my mother.
reddit.com · 2025

AIID editor's note: Please visit the original source to access the recording of the video uploaded by the Reddit user.

My sister & I have been telling her it's a scam but she's just not hearing us. Here's the situation(plethora of red flags…

Daughter's desperate plea after mother begins close relationship with fake Owen Wilson
ladbible.com · 2025

Ah Artificial Intelligence, you've done it again.

Technology and AI is progressing at a rapid pace, to a point where people are struggling to tell the difference between real and fake online.

AI videos have been doing the rounds on X in rec…

My mother fell in love with an A-list celebrity she met online - the video is so convincing she refuses to believe it's fake
dailymail.co.uk · 2025

A woman has reached out for help after discovering her mother might be falling head over heels for a fake Owen Wilson.

The unnamed woman shared her concerns on US forum Reddit, along with an alleged video of the Hollywood star, 56, telling …

LOSS & RACHEL I was scammed out of hundreds by ‘Jennifer Aniston’ who told me she loved me & needed cash for her ‘Apple subscriptions’
thesun.co.uk · 2025

A MAN was cruelly scammed out of £200 after being sweet-talked by a fake Jennifer Aniston begging for cash for "Apple subscriptions".

Paul Davis, 43, from Southampton, handed over the money after believing he was talking to the Friends star…

Man scammed out of hundreds by 'Jennifer Aniston' who told him 'she loved him'
ladbible.com · 2025

Not everyone online is as friendly as you first think - as this man found out after being duped by a scammer posing as Jennifer Aniston.

Paul Davis believed he was talking to the Friends actress, 56, on Facebook after fraudsters sent him 'f…

Variants

A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
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