Associated Incidents
ladimir Dobricanin was first alerted to the scam when an elderly woman asked him where she could buy the eyedrops he had apparently endorsed.
A well-known surgeon and MP, Dobricanin went online and found a video of himself, "very crudely" manipulated by artificial intelligence with the intention of promoting eyedrops that, he said, "certainly do not improve eyesight".
And it wasn't just eyedrops he had supposedly endorsed; the deepfake video published on fake Facebook and Instagram profiles had him apparently recommending remedies for rheumatism, constipation, impotence, prostrate problems and parasites.
"These criminals mislead citizens and sell them something the composition of which no one can confirm," Dobricanin told BIRN. "People are often advised to stop their prescribed therapies and start using these farcical so-called medicines, which can directly and indirectly endanger lives."
The links attached to sponsored ads selling these remedies lead to the website of a company called Limited Charm, where the products can be bought at heavily discounted prices. Limited Charm is registered in Montenegro's Central Registry of Business Entities under the name Digital Edge, with an address in the town of Tuzi.
The company did not respond to requests for comment, but according to official data, Digital Edge had revenues last year of more than 1.6 million euros and a net profit of 75,637 euros.
That's despite previous investigations in 2021 and 2023 highlighting its use of manipulative online practices including fake endorsements.
Dobricanin is not the only prominent figure whose identity has been misused in recent years.
In August, Bosnian fact-checking site Raskrinkavanje.ba reported on the misuse of statements by a number of public figures in Bosnia and Herzegovina by a company called Nearest Edge, which describes itself as an AI-powered cryptocurrency trading platform; fabricated stories targeting former Montenegrin Agriculture Minister Petar Ivanovic and journalist Drazen Zivkovic were also used as bait to lure users into investment schemes via the Nearest Edge platform.
"With modern AI tools, some videos can at certain moments appear real and convincing to the average social media user," said Jelena Jovanovic, editor-in-chief of Raskrinkavanje in Montenegro. "In these clips, public figures allegedly promise wealth and prosperity, provided users react quickly and invest money."
"Online fraud can often be detected if the websites are so-called 'landing pages' with no additional content, or if clicking any option leads directly to a purchase link for a product that is almost always heavily discounted."
Long and complex investigations
Montenegro's Computer Incident Response Team, CIRT, says the misuse of images, voices, photos or videos of public figures is growing.
"The largest increase has been observed since 2022, when AI-based tools became widely available and easy to use," CIRT told BIRN. "Most reports relate to attempted financial scams, while a smaller portion concerns other forms of digital manipulation using public figures as 'bait'."
Public figures are most often abused in fake investment platforms, fraudulent prize games, and campaigns where members of the public are lured into clicking malicious links and deepfake content simulating their endorsements, CIRT said.
"These cases fall under the broader category of digital fraud involving social engineering, phishing, and misuse of digital identities. When deepfake techniques are involved, they are further categorised as AI-generated audiovisual content abuse."
While urging victims to go to the police and CIRT, Andreja Mihailovic, head of Women4Cyber Montenegro, said the response of authorities is often limited.
"The technical and legal nature of deepfake scams makes investigations complex and often lengthy," Mihailovic told BIRN.
"In Montenegro and the region, clickbait ads with fake statements from public figures often lead to servers located abroad, outside the jurisdiction of Montenegrin authorities. Offenders use VPN services, encryption and fake digital identities, which makes identification and prosecution extremely difficult."
Mihailovic stressed the need to strengthen technical capacities and formalise international cooperation to allow faster data exchange and urgent interventions in digital abuse cases.
"Because of weak international cooperation, harmful content often remains online for a long time. Another problem is that some posts disappear before investigations are completed, leaving perpetrators unidentified."
Rising number of deepfake incidents
According to police data, 42 people in Montenegro reported being the victims of online scams in 2025, involving financial costs of around 300,000 euros.
On November 11, police said such scams are organised through fake social media pages promoting bogus investments.
"Due to the advanced use of information technologies that make it easy to conceal digital traces, resolving such cases requires extensive analysis and often the involvement of international partners and foreign companies," police said.
Mihailovic noted that in the first three months of this year alone, reported deepfake incidents exceeded the total number recorded for the whole of 2024, with public figures targeted in more than 55 per cent of cases.
She said the most common formats include fake public statements, simulated media appearances, altered photos and audio recordings. Video content dominates political and financial scams, while static images are more often used for reputational damage.
According to a study by security platform ZeroThreat, globally the use of deepfake methods in digital fraud has increased by more than 2,000 per cent since 2022, while 60 per cent of organisations still lack adequate detection and response mechanisms.
Mihailovic told BIRN: "This phenomenon requires urgent legal and institutional adaptation, combining legal tools, algorithmic forensics and systematic education on digital authenticity. Only such an integrated approach can preserve trust in public communication and prevent the erosion of democratic processes."
The EU Artificial Intelligence Act requires clear labelling of AI-generated synthetic content, while the unauthorised use of personal photos, videos, or audio recordings in Montenegro is punishable by a fine or up to one year in prison.
Besides going to the police, Dobricanin also complained to the platforms where his identity was abused, but to little effect.
"The response from Facebook and Instagram was disappointing but expected: they say it's not up to them to assess what is legal," he said. "They only blocked me from receiving further information about the fake profiles. These platforms are effectively built for this kind of criminal activity."
Mihailovic said tech giants should be required to detect manipulation at the moment of publication and flag suspicious content pending verification.
"The scale of damage often depends on the speed of platform response," Mihailovic said. "Even a delay of a few hours can allow massive spread of deceptive content and permanently damage reputations."