Indonesians swindled by scams using President Prabowo deepfakes

JAKARTA – Wearing a traditional Indonesian black hat and shirt, President Prabowo Subianto speaks to the camera in an Instagram video, asking his people how he can help them after his election in 2024.

“Who hasn’t received aid from me? What are your needs right now?” he appears to ask viewers in the clip posted in November.

But while the Indonesian leader’s mouth moves and his eyes blink, the words he utters are part of a fraudulent deepfake scam uncovered by police in February that has swindled Indonesians across 20 provinces.

Those ensnared by the message were asked to contact a WhatsApp number and hand over between 250,000 rupiah and one million rupiah (between S$20 and S$82) as an “administrative fee” to get aid that never materialised.

Since 2024’s Indonesian election, experts have warned of a tidal wave of deepfakes – audio, images and video appearing to come from a known person but that are, in fact, the work of scammers using artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

Victims say the hoaxes are so sophisticated that the scams leave others vulnerable to being conned too.

“People should be more careful. Don’t be easily fooled by the lure of prizes,” said Aryani, 56, who handed over 200,000 rupiah to fraudsters after seeing a deepfake video of a prominent Indonesian businessman.

“I need money, but instead I am asked to send money. They even made video calls with me, as if I were talking directly to them.”

During the South-east Asian country’s presidential campaign, deepfakes became a prominent tool to spread misinformation both harmful and helpful to candidates.

But now, that technology has fallen into the hands of criminals looking to make cold, hard cash.

Wide circulation

AFP’s fact-checkers found that the account behind the Prabowo clip has posted dozens of similar videos