Case south-korea-teachers-deepfake-survey-2024Deepfake abuseSouth Korea
South Korean teachers' union finds 204 teachers hit by school deepfake sex crimes in Telegram scandal
During South Korea's 2024 Telegram deepfake crisis, the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union said a two-day survey found 16 teachers whose photos were made into illegal sexual deepfakes and 188 more who were indirectly threatened. A later Education Ministry survey counted 31 teacher victims and 799 student victims in 2024.
HighAttack using AIStatus: OngoingVerified case file
Open in the interactive mapCite this case
- Reported
- Aug 29, 2024
- Location
- South Korea
- Target
- Teachers and students at South Korean schools
- Severity
- High
- Verification
- Confirmed by victim, vendor or authority
- Triggered by
- Students and other users of Telegram deepfake chat rooms (not identified)
- Actor type
- Criminal
- Sector
- Education & research
- Reported loss
- None reported
- CVE
- None
What happened
During South Korea's 2024 Telegram deepfake crisis, the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union said a two-day survey found 16 teachers whose photos were made into illegal sexual deepfakes and 188 more who were indirectly threatened. A later Education Ministry survey counted 31 teacher victims and 799 student victims in 2024.
Impact: One teacher's nude deepfake was shared online with personal details, followed by harassing calls and texts; schools nationwide reported cases.
Who triggered it
Actor: Students and other users of Telegram deepfake chat rooms (not identified)
Attribution: Union and Ministry of Education surveys; individual perpetrators not identified in the reports.
Motive: Sexual humiliation and harassment
How it happened
Attack vector: Photos of teachers and classmates uploaded to Telegram bots and chat rooms that produce sexually explicit deepfakes
Root cause: Widely available deepfake bots on Telegram and, at the time, no penalty for possessing or viewing such material
Timeline
- Union begins collecting reports from schools nationwide
- Ministry of Education reports 186 student and 10 teacher victims since January
- Union announces 517 victims, including 204 teachers directly or indirectly affected
- Ministry survey counts 31 teacher and 799 student victims
Response
The Ministry of Education set up an emergency deepfake task force; ministries agreed to build automatic detection of deepfake sexual content; police opened an investigation into Telegram.
Current status: Ongoing
Sources (open in a new tab)
- Asia Economy view.asiae.co.kr
- Korea JoongAng Daily koreajoongangdaily.com
Cite this case
South Korean teachers' union finds 204 teachers hit by school deepfake sex crimes in Telegram scandal. AI Threat Watch, case south-korea-teachers-deepfake-survey-2024, Aug 29, 2024. https://aithreat.io/cases/south-korea-teachers-deepfake-survey-2024/
Permanent link: https://aithreat.io/cases/south-korea-teachers-deepfake-survey-2024/
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