Purported Deepfake Endorsements Reportedly Used to Promote Fraudulent Health and Investment Products in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina

Purported deepfake videos and images impersonating Montenegrin MP and surgeon Vladimir Dobričanin and other public figures were reportedly used in Facebook and Instagram ads to promote fraudulent health products and investment schemes in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The impersonations allegedly directed users to scam websites linked to firms such as Digital Edge and Nearest Edge, reportedly causing harm while evading timely platform enforcement.

Risk classification

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

The incident involves scammers using AI-generated deepfakes of public figures to execute financial scams, fraudulent health product sales, and fake investment schemes.

Additional risk subdomains

• 3.1 False or misleading information: The deepfakes generated false statements and fake endorsements, leading users to believe public figures recommended these products.

Causal factors

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

The incident was caused by human scammers intentionally using deployed AI deepfake generation tools to commit financial fraud and identity theft.

EU AI Act risk tier

• Risk tier: 3 Limited Risk

Risk Level 3. Limited Risk: The report describes 'AI-generated audiovisual content abuse' and 'deepfake techniques'. The EU Artificial Intelligence Act requires clear labelling of AI-generated synthetic content, which applies to deepfakes (Limited Risk).

AI system and alleged parties

• AI system: unspecified
• AI purpose: Deepfake Video Generation; Voice Generation
• Behaviour type: Tool
• Alleged developer: Unknown voice cloning technology developers, Unknown image generator developers, Unknown deepfake technology developers
• Alleged deployer: Unknown scammers impersonating Montenegrin public figures, Unknown scammers impersonating Bosnian public figures, Unknown scammers, Nearest Edge, Limited Charm, Digital Edge
• Alleged harmed parties: Vladimir Dobričanin, Petar Ivanović, People seeking medical advice, General public of Montenegro, General public of Bosnia and Herzegovina, General public, Epistemic integrity, Elderly individuals, Dražen Živković

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 Negligible
• 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 Negligible
• Psychological: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Epistemic: direct Minor, indirect Negligible
• Child sexual exploitation and abuse: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible

Financial

Reported: The report explicitly describes financial losses. In 2025, 42 people in Montenegro reported being victims of online scams involving financial costs of around 300,000 euros. Digital Edge had revenues of over 1.6 million euros, indicating substantial financial extraction from victims.

Directly caused: The average financial loss per reported victim in Montenegro is approximately 7,143 euros (300,000 euros divided by 42 reported victims).

Inferred additional harm: Given that Digital Edge alone had revenues of over 1.6 million euros and many scams go unreported, the total financial loss across Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina is likely in the millions of euros.

Malicious content

Reported: The report explicitly describes the creation and spread of malicious deepfake videos and images used for fraud.

Directly caused: Scammers created and distributed deepfake videos and images of public figures on Facebook and Instagram to promote fraudulent health products and crypto platforms.

Inferred additional harm: Thousands of social media users were likely exposed to these malicious deepfake ads across the Balkan region.

Epistemic

Reported: The report explicitly describes epistemic harm through the generation of highly convincing fake videos and statements of public figures.

Directly caused: Scammers generated fake videos of public figures endorsing fraudulent products, misleading citizens into believing these endorsements were real.

Inferred additional harm: The proliferation of these deepfakes contributes to a broader erosion of trust in digital media and public communication across the region.

People affected

• Occurrences reported: 1
• People reportedly harmed: 45
• People reportedly exposed: 10000

Potential causes

Management

• Inadequate Platform Accountability: Social media platforms refuse to assess legality of reported fake profiles.
• Absence of Pre-Publication Checks: Platforms fail to detect and flag deepfakes at the moment of upload.

Technology

• Widespread AI Tool Availability: Easy-to-use AI tools since 2022 enable rapid creation of deepfakes.
• Convincing Deepfake Realism: Advanced AI generates highly realistic and persuasive simulated media.

Data Inputs

• Misuse of Public Digital Identities: Unauthorized use of public figures' photos, videos, and voices as bait.

Human Factors

• User Susceptibility to Deepfakes: Average social media users find fake videos highly real and convincing.
• Urgency-Driven Decision Making: Users are lured by promises of quick wealth and act impulsively.

Process and Methods

• Slow Platform Moderation Response: Delays in removing reported fake content allow scams to spread widely.
• Use of Evasive Technical Methods: Scammers use VPNs, encryption, and foreign servers to hide traces.
• Lack of Detection Tools: Sixty percent of organizations lack adequate deepfake detection mechanisms.

Regulatory Environment

• Weak International Cooperation: Cross-border server locations hinder swift investigation and prosecution.
• Complex Legal Investigations: Technical and legal complexities make identifying perpetrators extremely slow.

Information quality

• Classification confidence: High
• Reason for confidence: The report provides clear, detailed accounts of the deepfake scams, including specific names of affected public figures, companies involved (Digital Edge, Nearest Edge), financial loss statistics from the police (300,000 euros), and statements from official bodies like CIRT. The role of AI as a tool for generating deceptive synthetic media is explicitly established.
• Ambiguities identified: The specific AI models or software used to generate the deepfakes are not named.
• Alternative interpretations: None. The incident is clearly a case of AI-enabled financial fraud and identity impersonation.

Scammers utilized AI-generated deepfakes of public figures to conduct financial and health-related fraud in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. While causing notable local financial losses and eroding public trust, the incident remains a localized cybercrime issue with minor national security implications.

• Overall national security impact: Minor
• Scope: Multiple nations
• Primary target: Montenegro
• Other affected: Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Alleged perpetrator: Unknown

Threat characteristics

• Imminence: Long-term. The incident represents an ongoing, persistent cybercrime threat rather than an active, rapid-onset national security crisis.
• Autonomy: Human-controlled. The AI tools for deepfake generation and voice synthesis were directly operated and controlled by human scammers to execute the fraud.
• Novelty: Established threat. AI-enabled deepfake financial scams and identity impersonation are established threats that have been observed globally for several years.

Impact by dimension

• Physical security: Negligible. No direct physical attacks, critical infrastructure manipulation, or confirmed casualties resulted from the AI-enabled deepfakes.
• Information security: Minor. Scammers used AI-generated deepfakes to impersonate public figures on social media, but the intent was financial fraud rather than state-sponsored geopolitical information warfare.
• Sovereignty: Negligible. While an MP and former minister were impersonated, the incident did not target or disrupt core government operations, electoral systems, or state sovereignty.
• Economic security: Minor. The fraud caused direct financial losses of approximately 300,000 euros to Montenegrin citizens, but poses no systemic threat to national financial stability.
• Societal stability: Minor. The proliferation of deepfakes erodes public trust in media and public figures, and fraudulent health advice poses minor indirect risks to vulnerable populations.