DeepfakeHigh
Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams
- Occurred
- Jan 5, 2026
- Published
- Jan 5, 2026
- Source
- AI Incident Database
Summary
Religious communities in the U.S. and abroad reported the circulation of purportedly AI-generated videos and cloned audio impersonating pastors and church leaders, including Father Mike Schmitz, to solicit donations and spread incendiary sermons. The impersonations reportedly leveraged synthetic voice and likeness tools and were distributed via platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and messaging apps. Some content remained unlabeled as AI-generated and was treated as authentic by viewers.
Developers
- Deepfake technology developers
- Synthetic audio generation technology developers
Deployers
- Scammers impersonating religious figures
- Scammers
Harmed parties
- Mike Schmitz
- Religious leaders
- Religious institutions
- Religious communities
- Churches
- Congregants
- General public
- Epistemic integrity
Classification
Category confidence: 95%
Severity confidence: 90%
Rationale: AI-generated voice and video impersonations used for financial fraud and deception constitute deepfake incidents with significant financial harm.
Classifier: Qwen/Qwen3.5-35B-A3B-FP8