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Entities

Messaging apps

Incidents implicated systems

Incident 16483 Report
Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

2026-07-29

A Hong Kong man reportedly lost more than HK$10 million after scammers hijacked his father's WhatsApp account and sent voice messages closely resembling his father's voice and speech. The victim allegedly made repeated transfers until his savings were depleted.

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Incident 13551 Report
Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

2026-01-05

Religious communities in the U.S. and abroad reported the circulation of purportedly AI-generated videos and cloned audio impersonating pastors and church leaders, including Father Mike Schmitz, to solicit donations and spread incendiary sermons. The impersonations reportedly leveraged synthetic voice and likeness tools and were distributed via platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and messaging apps. Some content remained unlabeled as AI-generated and was treated as authentic by viewers.

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Related Entities
Other entities that are related to the same incident. For example, if the developer of an incident is this entity but the deployer is another entity, they are marked as related entities.
 

Entity

Scammers impersonating religious figures

Incidents involved as Deployer
  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

Scammers

Incidents involved as Deployer
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

Deepfake technology developers

Incidents involved as Developer
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

Synthetic audio generation technology developers

Incidents involved as Developer
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

Mike Schmitz

Incidents Harmed By
  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

Religious leaders

Incidents Harmed By
  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

Religious institutions

Incidents Harmed By
  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

Religious communities

Incidents Harmed By
  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

Churches

Incidents Harmed By
  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

Congregants

Incidents Harmed By
  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

General public

Incidents Harmed By
  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

Epistemic integrity

Incidents Harmed By
  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

TikTok

Incidents implicated systems
  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

Facebook

Incidents implicated systems
  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

Instagram

Incidents implicated systems
  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

Social media platforms

Incidents implicated systems
  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

Deepfake technology

Incidents implicated systems
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

Synthetic audio generation technology

Incidents implicated systems
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

  • Incident 1355
    1 Report

    Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

More
Entity

Voice cloning impersonation scammers

Incidents involved as Deployer
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

More
Entity

Synthetic media creators

Incidents involved as Deployer
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

More
Entity

Scammers in Hong Kong

Incidents involved as Deployer
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

More
Entity

Deepfake creators

Incidents involved as Deployer
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

More
Entity

Cybercriminals

Incidents involved as Deployer
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

More
Entity

Voice cloning technology developers

Incidents involved as Developer
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

More
Entity

Synthetic media generation technology

Incidents involved as Developer
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

Incidents implicated systems
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

More
Entity

WhatsApp users

Incidents Harmed By
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

More
Entity

Victims of voice cloning impersonation scams

Incidents Harmed By
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

More
Entity

Victims of impersonation scams

Incidents Harmed By
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

More
Entity

Financial scam victims

Incidents Harmed By
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

More
Entity

WhatsApp

Incidents implicated systems
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

More
Entity

Voice cloning technology

Incidents implicated systems
  • Incident 1648
    3 Reports

    Hong Kong Man Reportedly Lost More Than HK$10 Million in WhatsApp Scam Using Purported AI-Generated Voice Impersonation of His Father

More

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