Description: A global investment fraud network known as Quantum AI has reportedly used AI-generated deepfake videos, fake news sites, phishing pages, and spoofed calls to deceive victims. The scheme allegedly impersonates celebrities, news outlets, and political leaders to promote fraudulent trading platforms, leading targets to transfer money they cannot recover. Investigations suggest coordinated operations across multiple countries and platforms.
Editor Notes: Timeline notes: This incident ID represents an ongoing cluster of related events that began around 2020. The reference date of 01/01/2020 is an approximate placeholder. The incident ID was added to the AI Incident Database on 10/18/2025.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: Unknown deepfake technology developers , Unknown voice cloning technology developers and Generative AI companies developed an AI system deployed by Quantum AI and Quantum AI scammers, which harmed David Beckham , Elon Musk , Keir Starmer , Rishi Sunak , Mark Carney , Richard Branson , Martin Lewis , Steph McGovern , BBC , CNN , Daily Mirror , DW News , El Universo , Domenica In , Forbes , Spencer & Stanley , Smithville International , Retail investors , Investors , social media users , Meta users , YouTube users , Elderly investors , General public , Consumers , Financial services customers , Cryptocurrency investors , Victims of impersonation scams and Victims of deepfake-enabled fraud.
Alleged implicated AI systems: Quantum AI , Meta Platforms , Unknown deepfake technology , Unknown voice cloning technology , Phishing websites , Spoofed phone number systems and Automated trading bots
Incident Stats
Incident ID
1236
Report Count
2
Incident Date
2024-11-25
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
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Social media has been flooded with suspicious videos impersonating well-known faces and organisations, including the BBC, Elon Musk and David Beckham, in a dodgy financial scheme.
Over the course of months, we uncovered several dubious post…
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Which? has repeatedly warned about the global deepfake investment scams being run by an outfit called 'Quantum AI'. Using deepfake videos of celebrity figures, Quantum AI peddles enticing investment offers on social media, this time on YouT…
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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