DeepfakeHigh
Yahoo Boys Allegedly Using AI-Generated News Videos to Blackmail Sextortion Victims
- Occurred
- Jan 27, 2025
- Published
- Jan 27, 2025
- Source
- AI Incident Database
Summary
Scammers, allegedly linked to the Yahoo Boys, are using AI-generated news videos to blackmail victims in sextortion schemes. The videos impersonate news organizations, featuring fabricated reports that accuse victims of crimes, including explicit content distribution. Tutorials for creating these clips are reportedly shared on Telegram, with scammers leveraging the fake broadcasts to pressure victims into paying.
Developers
- Deepfake technology developers
Deployers
- Yahoo Boys
- Brouteurs
- Scammers in Nigeria
- Scammers in Ghana
- Scammers in West Africa
Harmed parties
- Victims of sextortion
- Teenagers targeted in sextortion scams
- News organizations impersonated by scammers
- CNN
Classification
Category confidence: 90%
Severity confidence: 85%
Rationale: AI-generated fake news videos used for sextortion blackmail constitute synthetic media deception causing financial and psychological harm.
Classifier: Qwen/Qwen3.5-35B-A3B-FP8