Description: A 24-year-old Ukrainian woman, Kateryna Izotkina, was reportedly arrested in Malta after allegedly using an AI-generated deepfake video of Prime Minister Robert Abela to promote a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. According to investigators, victims were misled into transferring tens of thousands of euros, including one who reportedly lost €53,250. Police conducted a controlled delivery and detained the suspect, who has been charged with fraud, money laundering, and related offenses.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: Unknown voice cloning technology developers and Unknown deepfake technology developers developed an AI system deployed by Kateryna Izotkina and Maria Lipinski, which harmed Robert Abela , Investors in Malta , Investors , General public of Malta , General public and Epistemic integrity.
Alleged implicated AI systems: Unknown voice cloning technology , Unknown deepfake technology , Telegram and AnyDesk
Incident Stats
Incident ID
1289
Report Count
3
Incident Date
2025-07-28
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
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A 24-year-old Ukrainian national has been remanded in custody after being accused of defrauding several people in Malta through a cryptocurrency scam promoted with an AI-generated video of Prime Minister Robert Abela.
The woman, identified …
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A woman told a court that she lost her entire life savings - over €53,000 - after falling victim to an online scam involving deepfake videos of Prime Minister Robert Abela.
The testimony came during the criminal proceedings against Kateryna…
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A woman has told a court how she lost her life savings after investing over €53,000 when she came across deepfake videos featuring prime minister Robert Abela on Facebook.
The woman took the witness stand on Monday afternoon in criminal pr…
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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