WARNING: Giorgia Meloni posted the image on X in a warning to people not to be taken in by ‘dangerous deepfakes’ – though in her case she said AI had ‘improved me quite a bit’
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said a raunchy photo of her in lingerie had been crafted by a ‘bot – but it had ‘improved me quite a bit’.
The glamorous politician shared the image on X in a warning to folk not to fall for ‘dangerous’ deepfakes. She wrote in Italian: “Several fake photos of me are circulating, generated with artificial intelligence and passed off as real by some zealous opponent.
“I must admit that whoever created them, at least in the attached case, has also improved me quite a bit. But the fact remains that just to attack and invent falsehoods nowadays anything at all is used.
“The point, however, goes beyond me. Deepfakes are a dangerous tool because they can deceive, manipulate, and strike anyone. I can defend myself. Many others cannot.
“For this reason one rule should always apply – verify before believing and believe before sharing. Because today it happens to me, tomorrow it can happen to anyone.”
She spoke out as Brit police revealed they are battling a record number of AI-driven dating scams. Romance fraudsters are using ‘bots to create fake profiles on dating apps to lure folk into parting with vast amounts of cash.
Figures released by the City of London Police show criminals scammed £102m from Brit victims last year – up 15% on 2024. The true number is likely to be far higher because many victims do not report the crime out of shame or embarrassment, police said.
Those aged between 55 and 74 accounted for nearly half of the total amount of cash stolen, officers said. Women suffered the greatest financial losses – £40m of the defrauded funds in 2025. But men made more reports overall.
In one incident a victim was coerced into handing over more than £1m. Police said 10,784 romance frauds were reported last year – up a third on 2024.
Criminals operating out of scam centres in the Philippines and West Africa use deepfake technology to convince victims during video calls that they are genuine.
Deepfakes work by scammers harvesting images, video and audio data from public social media profiles to generate a fake digital persona that can be overlaid on to their own during the call.
Scammers will typically contact the victim over dating apps such as Hinge, Tinder or Grindr. The criminal typically encourages the victim to move the conversation on to a private messaging app.
The scammer will then encourage their victim to share explicit photographs of themselves or to join a live video sex call. Criminals surreptitiously record the footage or download the victim’s pictures.
The scammer then threatens to ‘ruin their life’ by exposing the compromising material to their family, employer or loved ones, unless they pay.