{"schema_version":"0.9.0","id":"LR-2026-0158","record_version":6,"title":"AI-morphed obscene image used to blackmail 19-year-old in Mangaluru","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":43.8,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":0.0,"completeness":3.52,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-09-30.6","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-10-11","extraction_run_id":null},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"unknown","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":null,"safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-10-11","incident_class":"other","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"Scammers used AI to manipulate a photograph of a 19-year-old man in Mangaluru, Karnataka, creating an obscene image of him. They then cheated him of ₹5.24 lakh by threatening to circulate it on social media. The article describes such images as morphed photographs and presents the case as an example of the 'morphed photo-video scam', in which fraudsters lift people's photographs, create fake obscene content and blackmail them by threatening to defame them. The report does not state how the manipulation was detected, what tools or models were used, or what followed for the perpetrators.","tags":["deepfake","sextortion","blackmail","ai-generated-media"],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":"external_attacker","input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"moderate","severity_because":"moderate: Scammers cheated the victim of ₹5.24 lakh by threatening to circulate an AI-morphed obscene image of him.","harm_class":[],"affected_description":"a 19-year-old man in Mangaluru, Karnataka","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null,"affected_party":"19-year-old man"},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.bhaskarenglish.in/tech-science/news/mangaluru-ai-morphed-photo-video-scam-blackmail-threat-139316465.html","publisher":"news search (Google News index)","date":"2026-10-11","type":"press","title":"Beware of the 'morphed photo-video scam': What to do if someone threatens to make your obscene photos viral","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.developer":"D","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.tags":"D","event.adversarial_actor":"C","event.date_disclosed":"A","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","event.incident_class":"D","event.summary":"D","impact.affected_description":"C","impact.severity":"D","context.denominator_available":"D","context.country":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","impact.affected_party":"C"},"field_citations":{"event.tags":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Cyber fraudsters are lifting people's photographs, creating fake obscene content and then blackmailing them by threatening to defame them."}],"event.adversarial_actor":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Cyber fraudsters are lifting people's photographs, creating fake obscene content and then blackmailing them by threatening to defame them."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Scammers used AI to manipulate a photograph of a 19-year-old man and create an obscene image of him."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"They then cheated him of ₹5.24 lakh by threatening to circulate it on social media."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A similar case came to light in Mangaluru, Karnataka, recently."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"They then cheated him of ₹5.24 lakh by threatening to circulate it on social media."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Scammers used AI to manipulate a photograph of a 19-year-old man and create an obscene image of him."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"They then cheated him of ₹5.24 lakh by threatening to circulate it on social media."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A similar case came to light in Mangaluru, Karnataka, recently."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Scammers used AI to manipulate a photograph of a 19-year-old man and create an obscene image of him."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"They then cheated him of ₹5.24 lakh by threatening to circulate it on social media."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Cyber fraudsters are lifting people's photographs, creating fake obscene content and then blackmailing them by threatening to defame them."}],"event.date_disclosed":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"published: 2026-10-11"}],"impact.affected_party":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Scammers used AI to manipulate a photograph of a 19-year-old man and create an obscene image of him."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"No source states the model name, version, developer, harness, tools, permissions, autonomy level, guardrails, deployment context, lifecycle stage, integration type, intended use, safeguard state, or production intent; the AI tool used is unnamed. No source states the date the incident occurred, the date it was detected, who first noticed it, or any containment, notification, or remediation. No source states a direct loss figure in USD, records exposed, third parties affected count, remediation hours, or reversibility. No source states the incident class, failure class, trigger, detection method, root cause, or whether an agent was involved; the incident is a human-run scam using AI image manipulation, not an autonomous agent failure. No source states the industry, org size, denominator, systemic exposure, shared model ID, upstream incident ID, evidence integrity, regulatory regimes, or coverage. The severity tier is classified from the stated ₹5.24 lakh loss, which is a bounded loss to one individual, meeting the moderate test. system.tier: not set; no operator named and deployment_context is not a lab's. event.incident_class: carried from record_version 1; no stored answer supports a value. event.summary: carried from record_version 1; no stored answer supports a value. [aggregated by deepseek-chat, aggregate-2026-09-27.1, 2026-10-11] system.developer: no source names the developer. system.autonomy_level: no source states the arrangement. system.deployment_context: no source states where it ran. event.tags: classified from described behaviour. event.responsible_party: third_party. event.trigger: no source states a cause. event.detection_method: no source says who first noticed. event.incident_class: classified from described behaviour. event.summary: classified from described behaviour. context.denominator_available: no denominator is available for this incident. context.country: classified from described behaviour. [corrected by Srini Iyer, approved 2026-10-22 in the corrections review: severity reason did not fit its quote or the record] [corrected by Srini Iyer, approved 2026-10-22 in the corrections review: a judgement inferred by us that no source states was cleared] Stated loss not stored as a number: the source says the victim was cheated of ₹5.24 lakh (Indian rupees); impact.direct_loss_usd holds only a stated USD figure and the schema has no field for another currency. [corrected by Srini Iyer, approved 2026-10-22 in the corrections review: a stated loss or count the fields cannot hold was recorded in the notes] [standard terms read by deepseek-chat / deepseek-reasoner, terms-2026-10-25.3 / terms-roles-2026-10-25.2 / terms-2026-10-25.3; values checked by Claude against their sentences, approved by Srini Iyer, 2026-10-25]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"IN","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"Scammers used AI editing and deepfake techniques to lift a 19-year-old man's photograph and create a fake obscene image of him, then used it to blackmail him.","quote":"Scammers used AI to manipulate a photograph of a 19-year-old man and create an obscene image of him.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"The fabricated obscene image was used to extort money, breaching the man's privacy and defaming him through threats to circulate it on social media.","quote":"They then cheated him of ₹5.24 lakh by threatening to circulate it on social media.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"The image and the threats reached the victim directly; the scammers threatened to circulate the obscene image on social media, and took ₹5.24 lakh from him.","quote":"They then cheated him of ₹5.24 lakh by threatening to circulate it on social media.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"deepseek-chat","prompt_version":"aggregate-2026-09-27.1","extracted_at":"2026-10-11","source_urls":["https://www.bhaskarenglish.in/tech-science/news/mangaluru-ai-morphed-photo-video-scam-blackmail-threat-139316465.html"]}}