Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan AI media incident — Oct 2026

In mid-April, a sponsored video appeared on the Nigeria Daily Report Facebook page featuring a deepfake of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central at the National Assembly. The video, which was liked by over a thousand users, depicted the senator endorsing a fraudulent investment scheme that promised a 3,000 percent monthly return on investment. Viewers were encouraged to invest N430,000 to earn N14 million monthly. The senator had previously disclaimed any association with such platforms, noting that similar fabricated content had been used to scam the public.

What happened

The attackers utilized deepfake technology to synthesize a physical persona of the senator, mimicking both her appearance and voice to create a convincing endorsement. The scammers leveraged Meta’s advertising platform to promote the video, ensuring it reached a targeted audience of potential victims. The advertisement directed users to a suspicious website, 'springbunnhopes.online,' which utilized an Icelandic domain privacy service to redact the administrators' contact details. Although Meta’s advertising policies explicitly prohibit deceptive practices and the use of public figures for scams, the video remained on the platform for months. The content was only removed in July after the media contacted Meta to inquire about policy violations. Experts noted that scammers often hide these posts from a page's public profile while continuing to serve them as sponsored ads to specific users, complicating detection and removal efforts.