Case brazil-gisele-deepfake-adsDeepfake fraudBrazil
Brazil police bust ring using Gisele Bundchen deepfakes in Instagram ad scams
Rio Grande do Sul police arrested suspects accused of running deepfake celebrity ads for fake giveaways and products, moving over R$20M (about $3.9M) in suspicious funds.
HighAttack using AIStatus: Under investigationVerified case file
Open in the interactive mapCite this case
- Reported
- Oct 1, 2025
- Location
- Brazil
- Target
- Brazilian consumers
- Severity
- High
- Triggered by
- Unnamed Brazilian fraud ring (Operation Jungle Mode suspects)
- Actor type
- Criminal
- Reported loss
- $3.9M
- CVE
- None
What happened
Rio Grande do Sul police arrested suspects accused of running deepfake celebrity ads for fake giveaways and products, moving over R$20M (about $3.9M) in suspicious funds.
Impact: Over R$20 million (about USD 3.9M) in suspicious funds moved from victims who paid for non-existent goods; victim count not disclosed
Who triggered it
Actor: Unnamed Brazilian fraud ring (Operation Jungle Mode suspects)
Attribution: Identified by Rio Grande do Sul Civil Police after COAF flagged suspicious funds; suspects not publicly named
Motive: Consumer fraud (fake giveaways and products with shipping-fee payments)
How it happened
Attack vector: Instagram ads with deepfake videos of Gisele Bundchen and other celebrities promoting fake suitcase giveaways and skincare products, collecting shipping fees for goods never delivered
Root cause: Easy celebrity deepfake generation combined with insufficient ad-platform screening of fraudulent celebrity endorsements
Timeline
- Scheme active since at least this month, per police
- Operation Jungle Mode: 7 arrest and 9 search warrants executed across five Brazilian states; four suspects arrested
- Reuters reports the case; Meta says it removes deceptive celebrity ads when detected
Response
Police arrested suspects, froze assets across five states; Bundchen's team warned consumers to verify offers; Meta cited ad-removal policies
Current status: Under investigation
Sources (open in a new tab)
- AI Incident Database incidentdatabase.ai
- Reuters (via Yahoo News) yahoo.com
- Malay Mail (Reuters) malaymail.com
Cite this case
Brazil police bust ring using Gisele Bundchen deepfakes in Instagram ad scams. AI Threat Watch, case brazil-gisele-deepfake-ads, Oct 1, 2025. https://aithreat.io/cases/brazil-gisele-deepfake-ads/
Permanent link: https://aithreat.io/cases/brazil-gisele-deepfake-ads/