Chinese female athletes targeted by AI deepfake and voice cloning scams
Chinese female athletes, including billiards player Wang Sinuo and Olympic champions, reportedly became targets of AI-generated deepfake videos and voice cloning scams in August 2025. Wang Sinuo disclosed non-consensual obscene deepfakes in her likeness and initiated legal action as police opened investigations, while Olympic athletes' cloned voices were used fraudulently to endorse products, deceiving consumers into purchasing items worth millions of units.
What happened
On August 30, 2025, female billiards player Wang Sinuo posted a video stating she was targeted by malicious use of AI technology to create and distribute fake obscene videos of her. She declared all such videos to be illegal fakes, hired lawyers to preserve evidence and initiate legal proceedings, and confirmed that police had opened a case and begun investigation.
On the same day, billiards referee Wang Zhongyao released a supporting video, stating she experienced similar treatment years earlier when obscene videos of her were illegally distributed on overseas websites. Wang Zhongyao called for all victims to come forward, saying silence enables crime.
Multiple Olympic athletes including Quan Hongchan, Sun Yingsha, and Wang Chuqin were impersonated using AI voice cloning to promote products. An account named 'I am Little Assistant' posted videos using Quan Hongchan's cloned voice to sell eggs, with one video receiving 11,000 likes and the linked product selling 47,000 units. In April 2025, Quan Hongchan's family confirmed she had not endorsed or authorized such products.
Reported impact
The victims reported reputational harm and social humiliation from the non-consensual synthetic media. Wang Sinuo and Wang Zhongyao stated they had engaged legal counsel and reported the incidents to police.
Consumers were deceived by fraudulent endorsements using cloned voices, purchasing products they believed were promoted by Olympic athletes. The voice cloning scams affected multiple athletes and generated significant commercial fraud.
Index analysis
Legal scholar Qi Shasha noted that creating fake obscene videos requires three conditions: fabricating facts, distributing fabricated facts, and targeting specific individuals. She stated that victims should gather evidence, take screenshots of original posts with timestamps, likes, and shares, report to police, and pursue civil or criminal litigation.
Scholar Chen Xing observed that current barriers exist: criminal thresholds are too high as defamation requires 'severe circumstances' under Article 246 of the Criminal Law; civil remedies are delayed; platform responsibility is unclear; and preventive measures are lacking. He recommended lowering victims' evidentiary burden, improving expedited court procedures to obtain platform evidence such as IP addresses and login records, and establishing rights-violation injunction systems.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.