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A widespread financial scam in Indonesia has been using AI-generated deepfake videos of President Prabowo Subianto and other officials to trick citizens into paying 'administrative fees' for non-existent financial aid. The scam has affected victims across 20 provinces, with police making arrests in February 2025. Despite these interventions, the proliferation of sophisticated deepfake content continues to pose a significant challenge for fact-checkers and social media platforms.
A deepfake scam allegedly using AI-generated videos of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and other officials reportedly defrauded victims across 20 provinces, tricking them into paying Rp 250,000 to Rp 1 million ($15-$60) for purported financial aid. The fraudulent clips, circulated on TikTok, Instagram, and WhatsApp, appeared to show Prabowo offering assistance. Police reportedly arrested two suspects in February 2025, but deepfake scams exploiting high-profile figures continue to spread.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
Scammers used AI deepfake technology to impersonate President Prabowo Subianto and other public figures to run fraudulent financial aid scams, swindling victims out of money.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
The risk was caused by human scammers intentionally using deployed AI deepfake generation tools to defraud victims.
Added categories peak at 3: Substantial (Epistemic Harm, Inferred)
A widespread financial scam in Indonesia utilized AI-generated deepfakes of President Prabowo Subianto to defraud citizens across 20 provinces. While the incident represents an ongoing law enforcement challenge and highlights the growing accessibility of synthetic media, its national security impact remains minor as it did not target critical infrastructure, state sovereignty, or classified systems.
The reports describe scammers using artificial intelligence tools to generate deepfake videos and audio. The AI system performed the specific function of generating synthetic media based on direct human inputs, operating as a tool.
Limited Risk: The AI system involved is used to generate deepfakes (AI-generated content), which falls under Risk Level 3 due to transparency obligations to inform users that the content is AI-generated.
The scammers used AI tools to generate realistic videos and audio of President Prabowo Subianto to impersonate him.
The reports from multiple credible news sources (AFP, France24, Jakarta Post) consistently describe the same deepfake scam campaign, detailing the mechanics of the fraud, the platforms involved, police arrests, and specific financial figures.
None. The reports clearly describe a financially motivated deepfake scam.
While the specific AI generator names are not mentioned, this does not prevent confident classification of the incident's nature and harms.
Technology
Highly Accessible AI Tools
AI tools have become affordable and easy for scammers to use.
Improved Deepfake Realism
High quality video and audio make fakes hard to distinguish from reality.
Convincing Face and Voice Sync
Realistic lip-syncing and blinking increase the credibility of scams.
Data Inputs
Media of Public Figures
Abundant footage of leaders is exploited to train deepfake models.
Human Factors
Financial Vulnerability
Economic hardship makes victims susceptible to fake aid promises.
Exploitation of Trust
Victims trust prominent figures, reducing skepticism of fake offers.
Process and Methods
Overwhelming Scam Volume
The sheer quantity of new scams weekly overburdens fact-checkers.
Delayed Video Removal
Videos accumulate millions of views before platforms take them down.
Management
Inadequate Content Moderation
Platforms fail to proactively detect and block deepfake scam accounts.
Regulatory Environment
Reactive Law Enforcement
Police arrest suspects only after victims have lost money.
AI system involved
An AI system was involved, but the reports do not identify it.
Identified by automated extraction; can differ from the alleged developers above.
