Editor's Pick: "We Know It's Dangerous," But What About My Face? Rising Concerns Over Deepfake Scams

A photo that looks as though it was taken directly by a famous actor pops up in a messenger chat window.

A woman in her 30s, surnamed A, believed the person impersonating the actor was the celebrity themselves and exchanged messages like lovers for eight months.

Then one day, the counterpart claimed that a gift sent from abroad was stuck in customs and requested money. Over multiple transactions, A sent a total of 35 million won.

[Victim A : I divided it up and sent 3 million won, 5 million won, 2 million won, 4.8 million won...]

Realizing too late that it was a scam, she was unable to get a single penny back.

This advertisement, which appears to show singer Lee Ji-hye promoting a product while eating it, is also a fake synthesized using AI.

As damages piled up because consumers purchased items believing the ads were real, Lee warned of legal action against the company involved.

While deepfake crimes utilizing AI are running rampant, nearly 1,500 reports of AI-generated sexually explicit fake content alone were tallied last year, while statistics for other types of AI deepfakes do not even exist.

[Police Official : We have statistics regarding sex crimes related to (deepfakes). Statistics for other areas have not been established yet.]

While preventive measures are being suggested—such as directly verifying through official websites or known numbers if money or identification is requested online—critics point out that there are limits to relying solely on individual vigilance due to the rapid advancement of AI technology.

[Lee Kyung-ho / Professor of Information Security at Korea University : They analyze individuals and make customized pitches to persuade them, launching attacks in that manner. It is (desirable) to solve this by fostering an industrial ecosystem, such as by creating solutions.]

The police have deployed "AI specialized analysts" to provincial and metropolitan police agencies nationwide to step up responses against the flood of AI-manipulated materials.

Deepfake Crimes Involving Romances and Models Are Rising, But Responses Remain the Same (October 27, 2026, 8 News)

(Reported by Pyeon Gwang-hyun | Written by Bae Jun-hwi | Filmed by Yoon Hyeong | Video Edited by Kim Ho-jin | Designed by Kim Ye-ji | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.