DeepfakeMedium
Scammers Reportedly Used AI-Generated Image of Missing Puppy Hazel to Solicit Fraudulent Vet Payment from St. Petersburg, Florida Couple
- Occurred
- Jan 20, 2026
- Published
- Jan 27, 2026
- Source
- AI Incident Database
Summary
Scammers reportedly used an AI-generated or AI-altered image of a missing German Shepherd puppy on an operating table to convince a St. Petersburg, Florida couple that the dog had been hit by a car and needed emergency surgery. The caller allegedly impersonated police and veterinary staff while requesting $1,900 through Zelle. The payment was flagged as fraud, and the dog later returned home unharmed.
Developers
- Synthetic image generation technology developers
Deployers
- Scammers
Harmed parties
- People searching for missing pets
- Michelle Morida
- Epistemic integrity
- Dennis Morida
Classification
Category confidence: 90%
Severity confidence: 85%
Rationale: AI-generated image used to deceive victims into fraudulent payment, fitting deepfake definition.
Classifier: Qwen/Qwen3.5-35B-A3B-FP8