Purported Deepfake Investment Video Reportedly Used in Scam That Defrauded Turkish Couple of 1.5 Million Lira (~$35,000 USD)

İsa Kereci and Hale Kereci, a married couple in Samsun, Turkey, reportedly lost 1.5 million lira after being deceived by an alleged AI-generated investment video on Facebook. The scammers allegedly used the video to build credibility and then guided them through staged "investment" steps, including screen sharing, fees, forced loans, and unauthorized bank and credit card transfers. The couple filed a criminal complaint, reporting severe financial harm and significant emotional distress.

Risk classification

• Primary risk domain: 4 Malicious actors
• Primary risk subdomain: 4.3 Fraud, scams, and targeted manipulation

The incident involves malicious actors using an AI-generated investment video to deceive specific victims for financial gain, resulting in a loss of 1.5 million lira.

Causal factors

• Entity: Human
• Intent: Intentional
• Timing: Post-deployment

The incident was caused by human scammers who intentionally deployed an AI-generated video post-deployment to defraud the victims.

EU AI Act risk tier

• Risk tier: 3 Limited Risk

Risk Level 3: The report describes the use of an AI-generated investment video, which falls under the category of deepfakes or AI-generated content. According to the EU AI Act, such systems pose a limited risk and are subject to transparency obligations to ensure users are aware they are interacting with AI-generated media.

AI system and alleged parties

• AI system: None named
• AI purpose: Deepfake Video Generation; Social Media Content Generation
• Behaviour type: Tool
• Alleged developer: Unknown voice cloning technology developers, Unknown deepfake technology developers
• Alleged deployer: Unknown scammers
• Alleged harmed parties: İsa Kereci, Investors, Hale Kereci, General public of Turkey, General public, Epistemic integrity

Harm severity

Severity ratings are based on this scale.

Highest direct severity in any category: Minor. Severity is scored from Negligible to Catastrophic in each harm category, for harm the reports describe as caused directly or indirectly by the AI system.

• Physical: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Infrastructure: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Property: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Financial: direct Minor, indirect Minor
• Environmental: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Malicious content: direct Minor, indirect Negligible
• Differential treatment: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Civil rights: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Democracy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Privacy: direct Negligible, indirect Minor
• Psychological: direct Negligible, indirect Minor
• Epistemic: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Child sexual exploitation and abuse: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible

Financial

Reported: The report explicitly describes a total financial loss of approximately 1.5 million Turkish Lira for the single reported occurrence.

Directly caused: The victims lost approximately 1.5 million Turkish Lira through unauthorized bank transfers, credit card spending, and forced loans orchestrated by the scammers.

Indirectly caused: The victims suffered additional indirect financial strain from selling their gold assets and borrowing money from relatives to cover the fraudulent demands.

Inferred additional harm: The victims may face long-term financial harm, including debt accumulation, interest on the forced loans, and loss of future financial security.

Malicious content

Reported: The report describes the creation and dissemination of an AI-generated investment video used to deceive Facebook users.

Directly caused: An AI-generated fraudulent investment video was created and uploaded as a Facebook advertisement to target potential victims.

Inferred additional harm: It is likely that the same or similar AI-generated scam videos were distributed to a wider audience on Facebook, exposing numerous other users to potential fraud.

Privacy

Reported: The report describes unauthorized access to bank accounts and credit cards via screen sharing, though it does not explicitly frame this as an AI-driven privacy violation.

Indirectly caused: The scammers obtained sensitive financial and personal data by forcing the victims to share their screens during the scam process.

Inferred additional harm: The victims' personal and financial credentials may remain compromised or be sold on the dark web, leading to further privacy risks.

Psychological

Reported: The report explicitly describes psychological distress, noting that Hale Kereci wept outside the courthouse after realizing they had been scammed.

Indirectly caused: The emotional distress and trauma of losing 1.5 million lira and falling into debt caused significant psychological suffering for the two victims.

Inferred additional harm: It is highly likely that both victims suffered from severe anxiety, stress, and potential depression following the loss of their life savings and accumulation of debt, though specific clinical diagnoses are not detailed.

People affected

• Occurrences reported: 1
• People reportedly harmed: 2
• People reportedly exposed: 2

Potential causes

Management

• Poor Platform Governance: Social media management prioritized ad revenue over strict safety screening.

Technology

• AI Deepfake Generation: AI was used to create highly convincing fake investment video advertisements.
• Screen Sharing Abuse: Scammers used screen sharing to gain direct access to victims' bank accounts.

Data Inputs

• Deceptive Social Media Ad: The malicious input was a fraudulent ad displayed directly on Facebook.

Human Factors

• Low Digital Literacy: Victims easily trusted the video and shared sensitive screen access.
• Financial Vulnerability: Victims were lured by the promise of high returns on low initial investments.

Process and Methods

• Weak Ad Review Process: Facebook failed to detect and block the fraudulent AI investment ad.
• Inadequate Bank Controls: Bank systems allowed multiple suspicious transfers and screen-share actions.

Regulatory Environment

• Weak AI Media Regulations: Lack of strict laws targeting deepfakes and AI-generated scam advertisements.

Information quality

• Classification confidence: High
• Reason for confidence: The report clearly outlines the sequence of events, the amount of money lost (1.5 million lira), the platform used (Facebook), and the role of the AI-generated video in initiating the scam. There is little ambiguity regarding the primary harm (financial fraud) and the mechanism used.
• Ambiguities identified: The specific AI tool or platform used to generate the video is not identified.
• Alternative interpretations: None. The event is a straightforward financial scam facilitated by a deepfake video.

A married couple in Turkey lost 1.5 million Lira to a financial scam initiated by an AI-generated deepfake investment video on Facebook. While devastating to the individuals, the incident represents a localized criminal act with negligible implications for national security.

• Overall national security impact: Negligible
• Scope: Single nation
• Primary target: Turkey
• Alleged perpetrator: Unknown

Threat characteristics

• Imminence: Long-term. Represents an ongoing strategic concern regarding consumer fraud rather than an active national security crisis.
• Autonomy: Human-controlled. The AI system was used as a static tool to generate content, while the actual scam execution was entirely controlled by human actors.
• Novelty: Established threat. Deepfake-enabled financial scams on social media are an established and well-documented threat vector.

Impact by dimension

• Physical security: Negligible. No physical infrastructure, systems, or human safety were threatened or impacted by this financial scam.
• Information security: Negligible. While a deepfake video was used, it was for localized financial fraud rather than a state-sponsored disinformation or intelligence operation.
• Sovereignty: Negligible. No impact on state authority, electoral systems, or core government decision-making processes.
• Economic security: Negligible. The financial loss of 1.5 million Lira was suffered by private individuals and has no broader impact on national economic stability or strategic industries.
• Societal stability: Negligible. The harm was limited to two individuals experiencing financial and emotional distress, with no wider threat to social cohesion or human rights.