Facebook Account Reportedly Used AI-Generated Video to Impersonate Indonesian Preacher Ustaz Ujang Bustomi in Money-Giveaway Scam

A Facebook account called "PT perusahaan uangtunai" reportedly shared an AI-generated video impersonating Indonesian preacher Ustaz Ujang Bustomi and allegedly claiming he was giving away money. TurnBackHoax reported that the post drew about 12,500 likes, 7,100 comments, and 422 shares by 11/21/2025, and that Hive Moderation rated the video as likely AI-generated.

Risk classification

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

The incident involved using an AI-generated deepfake of a trusted preacher to run a fraudulent giveaway scam on Facebook for financial gain.

Additional risk subdomains

• 3.1 False or misleading information: The deepfake video generated false statements and misleading claims about a monetary giveaway.

Causal factors

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

The incident was caused by malicious human actors who intentionally generated and deployed a deepfake video to run a financial scam.

EU AI Act risk tier

• Risk tier: 3 Limited Risk

Limited Risk: The report describes an AI-generated deepfake video. Under the EU AI Act, AI systems that generate or manipulate image, audio or video content (deepfakes) pose a moderate risk and are subject to transparency obligations to inform users.

AI system and alleged parties

• AI system: Hive Moderation (Hive)
• AI purpose: Deepfake Video Generation; Voice Generation
• Behaviour type: Tool
• Alleged developer: Unknown voice cloning technology developers, Unknown deepfake technology developers
• Alleged deployer: Unknown scammers, PT perusahaan uangtunai
• Alleged harmed parties: Ustaz Ujang Bustomi, General public of Indonesia, Facebook users, Epistemic integrity, Elderly individuals in Indonesia

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 Negligible, 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

Malicious content

Reported: Yes, the report describes a malicious deepfake video created to impersonate a preacher and scam users.

Directly caused: An AI-generated deepfake video of Ustaz Ujang Bustomi was created and uploaded to Facebook to promote a fake giveaway.

Inferred additional harm: The video was shared 422 times, likely spreading to other social media pages and exposing more users to the malicious content.

Epistemic

Reported: Yes, the report describes the fabrication of a video showing a preacher making false claims about giving away money.

Directly caused: The AI-generated video fabricated statements by Ustaz Ujang Bustomi, misleading viewers into believing he was distributing money.

Inferred additional harm: The spread of such high-quality deepfakes erodes public trust in online media and video evidence, making it harder for users to distinguish real communications from fake ones.

People affected

• Occurrences reported: 1
• People reportedly harmed: 1
• People reportedly exposed: 12500

Potential causes

Management

• Inadequate Platform Risk Assessment: Platform management did not mitigate risks of AI-driven financial scams.

Technology

• AI Deepfake Generation Tools: Advanced AI tools allowed synthesis of realistic video of Ustaz Bustomi.
• Lack of Platform Deepfake Detection: Facebook failed to automatically detect and block the AI-generated scam video.

Data Inputs

• Unauthorized Use of Source Video: Scammers used existing public videos of Ustaz Bustomi to train or drive AI.

Human Factors

• User Vulnerability to Scams: Users believed the fake promise of easy money due to financial trust in Ustaz.
• Impersonation of Public Figures: Exploiting the high public trust in religious figures to maximize scam reach.

Process and Methods

• Inadequate Content Moderation: Social media moderation processes did not flag the fraudulent AI video.
• Delayed Fact-Checking Response: Fact-checking occurred only after the video gained significant engagement.

Regulatory Environment

• Weak AI Generated Content Laws: Lack of strict regulation on creating and sharing deceptive deepfakes.

Information quality

• Classification confidence: High
• Reason for confidence: The report clearly details the nature of the scam, the platform used, the engagement metrics, and the fact-checking process confirming the video was AI-generated. There is little ambiguity about the events.
• Ambiguities identified: The specific AI tool used to generate the deepfake video is not identified.

An AI-generated deepfake video of Indonesian preacher Ustaz Ujang Bustomi was used on Facebook to conduct a financial scam. While the incident represents a common form of cyber-enabled fraud using synthetic media, it has negligible national security implications and presents no threat to critical infrastructure, sovereignty, or national economic stability.

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

Threat characteristics

• Imminence: Long-term. The incident is a localized scam that does not present an active national security crisis requiring immediate government response.
• Autonomy: Human-controlled. The AI system was used strictly as a content-generation tool by human operators who directed and executed the scam.
• Novelty: Established threat. AI-generated deepfakes used for financial scams and impersonation of public figures are well-established and frequent occurrences.

Impact by dimension

• Physical security: Negligible. No physical systems, infrastructure, or human safety threats were involved in this social media scam.
• Information security: Negligible. The incident is a localized financial scam and does not constitute a coordinated information warfare campaign targeting national security or intelligence.
• Sovereignty: Negligible. The scam did not target or affect state authority, electoral systems, or government decision-making processes.
• Economic security: Negligible. While individuals suffered potential financial losses, the scam did not threaten national financial systems, strategic industries, or technological security.
• Societal stability: Negligible. The incident represents localized criminal fraud rather than population-scale social manipulation, systemic discrimination, or erosion of civil liberties.