DeepfakeHigh
Reported Use of Deepfake Video Impersonating Owen Wilson in Romance Scam with Fake Job Payments
- Occurred
- May 16, 2025
- Published
- May 30, 2025
- Source
- AI Incident Database
Summary
A Reddit user reported in May 2025 that her mother is being groomed by scammers using an AI-generated deepfake video impersonating actor Owen Wilson. The scam reportedly began on a game app (Yahtzee with Friends) and shifted to WhatsApp voice calls, with the victim promised a fake Warner Bros job paying small sums via Cash App. The scammer allegedly claims he will buy a house for the victim's family as part of the deception. The video is cited as the main “proof” of authenticity.
Developers
- Synthetic audio generation technology developers
- Deepfake technology developers
Deployers
- Unknown scammers impersonating Owen Wilson
- Scammers
- Scammers impersonating Owen Wilson
- Cybercriminals
- Synthetic media creators
- Deepfake creators
Harmed parties
- Unnamed mother of Reddit user Sharp_Ad_8771
- Reddit user Sharp_Ad_8771
- Players of Yahtzee with Friends
- Owen Wilson
- General public
- Targets of fraudulent professional opportunities
Tags
- deepfake
- impersonation
- scam
- fraud
Classification
Category confidence: 95%
Severity confidence: 90%
Rationale: Deepfake video used in romance scam causing financial harm and deception.
Classifier: Qwen/Qwen3.5-35B-A3B-FP8