Turkish National Reportedly Posted a Purportedly AI-Generated Image Depicting Himself with Eric Trump While Promoting Trump Hotel Dubai

Turkish national Melih Göğebakan reportedly posted a purportedly AI-generated image on LinkedIn depicting himself alongside Eric Trump while promoting the Trump Hotel Dubai project. The image appeared amid a broader online persona in which Göğebakan allegedly portrayed himself as closely connected to Trump-affiliated organizations and U.S. political figures. He was separately accused of visa-related fraud, though reporting does not establish that the AI-generated image caused those losses.

Risk classification

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

The perpetrator used an AI-generated deepfake image of Eric Trump to build false credibility and defraud specific victims of 3,000 dollars each under the guise of visa services.

Additional risk subdomains

• 3.1 False or misleading information: The AI tool was used to generate a fabricated image depicting a false meeting to mislead potential victims.

Causal factors

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

The harm was caused by a human actor intentionally using an AI-generated image to facilitate a financial fraud scheme after the AI model was deployed.

EU AI Act risk tier

• Risk tier: 3 Limited Risk

Risk Level 3: Limited Risk. The report describes the use of an AI-generated image (a deepfake) to falsely depict a relationship with Eric Trump, which falls under the category of AI-generated content such as deepfakes requiring transparency.

AI system and alleged parties

• AI system: None named
• AI purpose: Deepfake Image Generation; Image Generation
• Behaviour type: Tool
• Alleged developer: Synthetic media generation technology developers, Synthetic image generation technology developers, Deepfake technology developers
• Alleged deployer: Synthetic media creators, Scammers, Melih Göğebakan, Information manipulation actors, Deepfake creators
• Alleged harmed parties: public figures, Eric Trump, Epistemic integrity, American public figures

Harm severity

Severity ratings are based on this scale.

Highest direct severity in any category: Negligible. 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 Minor
• Environmental: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Malicious content: direct Negligible, 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 Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Child sexual exploitation and abuse: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible

Financial

Reported: The report describes allegations of visa fraud where victims paid 3,000 dollars per person. With multiple victims implied, the total reported losses are estimated at 15,000 dollars, averaging 15,000 dollars for this single coordinated occurrence.

Indirectly caused: Victims suffered an average financial loss of 3,000 dollars per person, totaling an estimated 15,000 dollars across the reported victims of the fraudulent scheme.

Inferred additional harm: It is likely that additional victims were defrauded of 3,000 dollars each but have not yet been identified, potentially raising total losses to 30,000 dollars or more.

People affected

• Occurrences reported: 1
• People reportedly harmed: 5
• People reportedly exposed: 50

Potential causes

Management

• Inadequate Content Risk Assessment: Social media management failed to address risks of AI-driven impersonation.

Technology

• Generative AI Image Synthesis: AI was used to generate a realistic image of him standing next to Trump.

Data Inputs

• Public Likeness Input Data: Using public figures' likenesses as inputs to generate deceptive images.

Human Factors

• Malicious Use of AI Tools: The perpetrator actively chose to use AI to manufacture false credibility.
• User Trust in Synthetic Media: Victims believed the AI-generated image, leading to successful fraud.

Process and Methods

• Deficient Platform Verification: LinkedIn lacked methods to detect and label AI-generated promotional images.

Regulatory Environment

• Weak Synthetic Media Oversight: Lack of regulations prohibiting deceptive AI-generated business promotions.

Information quality

• Classification confidence: Medium
• Reason for confidence: The report provides clear details about the arrest of Melih Gogebakan and the allegations of visa fraud. It explicitly mentions the use of an AI-generated image on LinkedIn to promote a Trump Hotel project. However, details about the specific AI tool used to generate the image are missing, and the exact number of victims and total financial losses are not fully quantified.
• Ambiguities identified: The exact number of defrauded individuals and the specific AI software used to generate the image are not specified.
• Alternative interpretations: The incident could be viewed purely as a traditional immigration and financial fraud case where AI was merely an incidental tool rather than a central driver of the risk.
• Missing information: The specific AI model or platform used to generate the deepfake image, and the exact number of victims defrauded by the scheme.

An individual used an AI-generated image to falsely claim ties to the Trump family and run a visa fraud scheme targeting Turkish citizens. The incident represents a minor national security impact, primarily affecting immigration integrity and low-level financial security, and was resolved through standard law enforcement channels.

• Overall national security impact: Minor
• Scope: Multiple nations
• Primary target: Turkey
• Other affected: United States
• Alleged perpetrator: Melih Gogebakan

Threat characteristics

• Imminence: Long-term. The immediate threat has been resolved with the perpetrator's arrest, representing an ongoing strategic trend in AI-enabled fraud.
• Autonomy: Human-controlled. The AI system acted purely as a tool for image generation under direct human control.
• Novelty: Established threat. Using fabricated media for impersonation and financial scams is a common and well-established threat method.

Impact by dimension

• Physical security: Negligible. No physical assets, critical infrastructure, or kinetic systems were targeted or affected by this incident.
• Information security: Negligible. The use of a synthetic image was for localized financial fraud rather than a coordinated state-sponsored information warfare campaign.
• Sovereignty: Minor. The perpetrator used a fake persona and synthetic image to run a visa scam, exploiting immigration processes and falsely claiming ties to US political figures.
• Economic security: Negligible. The financial impact was limited to low-level personal fraud with no systemic economic or technological consequences.
• Societal stability: Negligible. The incident did not threaten social cohesion, civil liberties, or cause large-scale societal instability.