Deepfake video of Armenia's PM Pashinyan used in investment scam
Scammers created a deepfake video impersonating Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to promote a fraudulent investment scheme, requesting personal and financial information from viewers. The Personal Data Protection Agency of Armenia warned citizens to avoid such ads and not share sensitive data.
What happened
Scammers shared an AI-generated deepfake video of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan online from an account called 'Noticias Mundiales' (World News) in Russian. The deepfake used footage from Pashinyan's February 2025 public address about his 'Real Armenia' ideology.
Reported impact
The fabricated video showed deepfake Pashinyan promoting an investment company claiming to offer Φ 1.8 million ($4,500) per month in stable income. The video solicited viewers to follow a link, register with their names, phone numbers, and email addresses, and purported to assign them a personal manager, with access allegedly available only for 24 hours.
Index analysis
The Personal Data Protection Agency of Armenia urged citizens to ignore such fake advertisements and never share personal information, including bank account data. This was not the first instance: the agency had reported in October 2023 that Pashinyan's speech was falsified using technical means and used to organize a fake advertising campaign on Facebook.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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