The report
City of London Police reported £24.3 million in losses connected to investment-fraud reports from January through August 2026 where AI, including generated images or deepfake endorsements, helped make a false offer appear credible. Report Fraud logged more than 1,300 reports in the period, with people aged sixty or over accounting for almost eighty percent. Police state that the AI component of each report was reviewed rather than assumed from the complainant's terminology.
The security mechanism is identity borrowing. An attacker places a recognizable face, institution or purported endorsement into a fake investment advert or article to shortcut a recipient's verification of who is offering the product. The recorded financial loss is tied to the fraud scheme; it cannot be treated as the causal contribution of any one model or a guarantee that all losses were produced by the same deepfake technique.
The official police release and fraud Case separate the reporting window, reviewed AI use and reported losses. The practical test is whether the claimed firm and authorized provider can be independently confirmed through a regulator's register, without relying on an ad, generated voice or the link supplied by the purported endorser.