A scary scam coming through Facebook ads used footage of Australian fraud victim Sunni Wan to promote fake help recovering stolen investment money. The video presented an offer from Interpol, but Ms Wan had not agreed to appear in it. She told news.com.au that scammers had turned footage from her media interview into a polished advertisement.

Ms Wan lost $49,000 in a scam in 2023. Earlier this year, she learned that a Russian-speaking actor had used her image in a separate fraud. The video showed her visibly upset, drawing on footage recorded after she advocated for hundreds of HSBC customers seeking reimbursement.

She said she felt shocked and worried that people who watched the advertisement might believe she endorsed its promise. Ms Wan also feared viewers could find her because she has influencer accounts and 28,000 followers on TikTok. “I was a victim myself and they used that to create more victims,” she said.

How the Scary Scam Coming to Viewers Worked

Cybersecurity company Infoblox investigated the advertisements. It said the campaign used AI-generated videos, fake news pages and polished websites that promised to recover money. Meta removed the ads featuring Ms Wan after Hong Kong media reported on them, but Infoblox said other advertisements remained online.

The company said the Russian-speaking actor was quickly creating new brands, domains and legal services. The story’s report on Wan’s image describes how stolen footage can make a fake recovery offer appear credible.

The case also connects to broader risks from AI-enabled deception. Wealth Tech Daily has reported on how hidden email instructions can target AI assistants, while a separate guide explains why long-term investing differs from market timing. Another article covers digital asset market intelligence, a related part of financial technology coverage.

Experts Warn of More Convincing Impersonation

A report from the Thomson Reuters Institute warned that AI could let scammers test approaches continuously and adapt to defenses in real time. The report said scammers could run many experiments at once, while deepfakes, voice cloning and synthetic identities could remove familiar clues of fraud. It described those capabilities as a risk in 2027.

Scam psychology expert Dr Martina Dove said AI can create fake websites, invoices, documents and apps in seconds. She was particularly concerned that AI agents could personalize conversations to groom victims. Dr Dove said scammers already use AI this way, and that automated interactions could make deception more effective.

Australian agencies and researchers have also described risks. Victoria Police issued an October warning about AI phone scams targeting Mandarin speakers. The source reported one case in which a scammer copied a medical professional’s voice and directed a victim to buy $50,000 in gift cards over three days.

The Australian Institute of Criminology found that half of Australian adults feared AI could be used to harm them, while one in five expected to experience AI-related crime within 12 months. Scamwatch does not track AI involvement in reports because it considers those references self-reported and unverified.

Prevention Requires Faster Coordination

The Thomson Reuters Institute report said banks need to examine behavior and intervene in real time, because payment monitoring alone may miss the grooming that precedes a transfer. It said social media, banks and phone companies each see different parts of a scam, making coordination important.

Dr Dove also called for countries to cooperate on cross-border prosecution and for scam education to focus more on how fraudsters manipulate people. Her comments point to the immediate challenge: platforms and institutions must respond to impersonation campaigns while victims’ images and personal stories are still being used to attract new targets.