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AII-1002-56131
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Deepfake voice clone used to advertise fake cream, attributed to Turkish surgeon

Internet fraudsters used AI to clone the voice of renowned Turkish surgeon Prof. Dr. Ömer Özkan and created a deepfake video falsely promoting a fake cream as a cure for pain and physical ailments. The video was viewed by hundreds of thousands of people before Prof. Özkan filed a criminal complaint.

21 December 2024 · Prof. Dr. Ömer Özkan · Fraud, scams and manipulation
21 December 2024
AII-1002-56131
Quick facts
Category
Fraud, scams and manipulation
Country
Türkiye
Date
21 December 2024
Drafted by
Raidu Incident Detection

What happened

Internet fraudsters created a social media account in Prof. Dr. Ömer Özkan's name and used AI to clone his voice from a previous interview.

The fraudsters produced a deepfake video showing Prof. Özkan endorsing a fake cream, falsely claiming it cured all types of pain and physical ailments and that surgery was unnecessary.

The video was watched by hundreds of thousands of people before Prof. Özkan discovered it and filed a criminal complaint.

Reported impact

Prof. Özkan noted that the video's voice and lip movements were noticeably mismatched.

He expressed concern that if 100 people watched the video, even 100 believing the false claims would be dangerous for society's future, and said the video remained unremoved for five days despite hundreds of thousands of views.

Index analysis

Prof. Özkan stated the fraudsters' intent may have been to gauge public reaction and create chaos.

He characterized the incident as 'AI violence' and emphasized that such deepfakes should be prevented before spreading, or removed immediately upon detection.

Classification

Category
Fraud, scams and manipulation
Industry
Healthcare, drugs and biotechnology
Country
Türkiye
Harm status
Potential harm
Intent
Intentional
Timing
Unknown
Harm types
Economic or property, Public interest
Harmed
Consumers, General public
Failure modes
Deepfake video, Manipulation or dark pattern, Content moderation failure, Voice clone
Consequences
Police investigation
AI systems
AI voice cloning system

Sources and evidence

Sources not yet published

This record was researched and written by the Index from original reporting. Its sources are still being verified by an editor, and they are listed here once that check is complete. Until then the record carries no reviewer.

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