A cast member from Harry Potter says an AI–driven impersonation scam nearly led a fan to lose everything, including her home.
In an interview with Unilad, Bulgarian actor Stan Yanevski, who played Viktor Krum in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, tells a story of how a woman was manipulated by someone posing as him online.
“I had a case where the cousin of a girl got in contact with me. That particular girl was in contact with a fake me, obviously sending pictures, and I don’t know what else they sent her.”
Yanevski says the emotional manipulation escalated to a dangerous point, where the fan was about to give away everything she had to the scammer.
“But she was so in love that she was about to sell her house and send all her money to that guy claiming to be in the States.”
The Harry Potter star says his conversation with the victim’s cousin led to the romance scammer’s undoing. Yanevski says he touched base with the victim and told her that she was speaking with a fake profile.
“Her cousin got in contact with me and explained all that, and I was like, man, that’s not me. I would never ask someone to sell their house, send me all their money and come and live with me. It just makes no sense.”
He says fighting impersonation and deepfake abuse has become an ongoing effort.
“It’s tough. I’ve been fighting this war and I believe I’ve created a community. On my social media as a whole, we look out for each other, and as soon as there is something fake out there, they send it to me.”
Last month, a study showed that AI systems are now beating humans in achieving victim compliance in romance scams. Researchers found that AI-driven interactions hit a 46% compliance rate compared to just 18% for human-driven attempts, showing how artificial intelligence can now be used dupe more victims just like the fan who nearly lost everything.
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