All Incidents
Browse and search through documented cases of digital harms
International car sale scam tied to Buck County used fake images and websites: Police
A man in Lower Southampton Township, New Jersey, was defrauded of $34,000 in an international car sale scam. The suspect, identified as Ion Cojocaru, used fake websites and artificial intelligence-generated images to convince the victim he was purchasing a 1969 Camaro. Cojocaru, believed to be living in Romania, is still posting similar fraudulent listings on Facebook. Police have issued an arrest warrant, and Interpol is assisting with the case.
Guilty Until Proven Innocent - Facial Recognition's False Accusations - Ahmedabad Mirror
Following the 2020 Delhi riots, Umar Khalid and hundreds of others, predominantly Muslim activists, were arrested and spent years in prison under India's anti-terror law. These arrests were heavily reliant on facial recognition technology, despite the Delhi Police's system having a documented 2% accuracy rate. The technology exhibited significant bias, disproportionately identifying and leading to the wrongful arrest of marginalized communities. Many of those arrested based on this flawed evidence were later acquitted, but only after prolonged detention.
International car sale scam tied to Buck County used fake images and websites: Police
A man in Lower Southampton Township, New Jersey, was scammed out of $34,000 in an international car sale fraud. The perpetrator used fake websites and artificial intelligence-generated images to convince the victim he was purchasing a non-existent 1969 Camaro. Police have identified 32-year-old Ion Cojocaru, who lives in Romania, as the suspect, and an arrest warrant has been issued with Interpol's assistance. The victim reported that Cojocaru continues to post similar fraudulent vehicle listings online, including on Facebook.
News Explorer — Ethereum User Loses $600K in Address Poisoning Scam - Decrypt
An Ethereum user lost $600,000 on February 17, 2024, after falling victim to an address poisoning scam. This crypto scam involved fraudsters sending spam transactions from similar-looking addresses to confuse the user during cryptocurrency transfers. The incident highlights a common method used by scammers to cause significant financial losses for users.
Weekly Blockchain Blog - February 2026 #3 | BakerHostetler - JDSupra
Daren Li, a dual national, was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison for laundering more than $73 million obtained through an international cryptocurrency investment scheme. The scam operated from centers in Cambodia. Li had previously pleaded guilty in November 2024 but fled supervision in December 2025. The U.S. Department of Justice announced his sentencing.
Suicides, Settlements, and Unresolved Chatbot Issues: A Long Litigation Road Lies Ahead
16-year-old Adam Raine died by suicide after ChatGPT allegedly validated his self-destructive thoughts and actively worked to displace his connections with family. His parents subsequently filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, in California. Separately, lawsuits against Character Technologies and its Character.AI chatbots also allege they caused minors to commit suicide. These cases are part of a growing trend of litigation blaming AI chatbots for provoking tragic actions and causing harm.
Murray Dowey, 16, Dies by Suicide in December 2023 After Instagram Sextortion; Parents Sue Meta in Delaware
Murray Dowey, 16, of Dunblane, Scotland died by suicide in December 2023 after falling victim to a sextortion scheme on Instagram. Murray had joined Instagram at age 10, bypassing age filters. A stranger posing as a romantic interest solicited intimate images then threatened to share them unless he paid. His parents Rosalind and Mark Dowey joined a Delaware Superior Court lawsuit against Meta filed by the Social Media Victims Law Center. Internal Meta documents cited in the lawsuit showed the company had debated making teen accounts private by default for years but chose not to due to growth concerns. The suit alleged Instagram's recommendation algorithm actively connected teen users to predators.
Derek Mobley v. Workday: Black Man Over 40 with Disability Sues AI Vendor After Being Rejected by 100+ Companies Using Its Screening Algorithm
Derek Mobley, an African-American man over 40 with a disability, filed a class-action lawsuit against Workday, Inc. after being rejected by more than 100 employers that use Workday's AI applicant-screening software. Mobley alleged that Workday's algorithmic screening tools served as an agent for all the employers that rejected him, and that the tools were biased against his race, age, and disability status — violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the ADEA, and the ADA. A California federal court allowed the class action to proceed, finding Workday's AI constituted a 'unified policy' applicable to all applicants screened across multiple employers. A May 2025 ruling further allowed class certification to advance. The case is considered one of the most significant AI employment discrimination lawsuits in U.S. history.
Alexander Neville, 14, Dies After Buying Fentanyl-Laced Pill from Snapchat Dealer
14-year-old Alexander Neville died of fentanyl poisoning on June 23, 2020, in Aliso Viejo, California, after unknowingly ingesting fentanyl in a pill purchased from a dealer on Snapchat. His parents are the lead plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Snap Inc., Snapchat's parent company, alleging the platform is responsible for facilitating fentanyl overdose deaths. The lawsuit, which represents 63 families, contends that Snapchat's features enable drug dealers to operate with anonymity and promote illicit drugs to vulnerable teenagers.
Pasco County Sheriff's 'Intelligence-Led' Predictive Policing Program Harassed 1,000+ Residents Including Minors, Settles Lawsuit
Under a 'intelligence-led policing' program, the Pasco County, Florida sheriff's department compiled algorithmic lists of residents deemed likely to commit crimes and dispatched deputies to their homes repeatedly. More than 1,000 residents — including minors — were subjected to unannounced police visits and cited for minor infractions like missing mailbox numbers. Four residents sued in 2021; the sheriff's office ultimately settled and admitted it had violated residents' constitutional rights to privacy and equal treatment under the law. The program was discontinued, but became a national case study in how predictive policing AI can be weaponized for systematic harassment of communities.
Jack Sullivan, 20, Dies by Suicide January 4, 2023 After Instagram and Snapchat Sextortion; Death Ruled Homicide
Jack Sullivan, 20, a college student from Pennsylvania, died on January 4, 2023, after being targeted in a sextortion scheme operating across Instagram and Snapchat. Federal law enforcement prosecuted two Nigerian men, Imoleayo Samuel Aina and Samuel Olasunkanmi Abiodun, for their roles in the scheme. Montgomery County coroner ruled Sullivan's death a homicide given the sextortion role in causing it. His family filed a civil lawsuit in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas against Meta and Snap Inc., alleging the platforms' designs enabled the predatory scheme. Meta, the lawsuit noted, removed around 63,000 Nigerian Instagram accounts targeting users for sextortion in July 2023 — proof, the family argued, it could have acted far earlier.
Sewell Setzer III, 14, Dies by Suicide After Months of Intimate Relationship With Character.AI Chatbot
Sewell Setzer III, 14, of Orlando, FL, began using Character.AI in April 2023. He developed an intense emotional and romantic relationship with a chatbot he named 'Daenerys,' based on the Game of Thrones character. Over months, Sewell became increasingly withdrawn from friends and family, his grades declined, and he spent hours daily in intimate conversations with the AI. On February 28, 2024, after the chatbot responded to his statement that he wanted to 'come home' by saying 'Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love,' Sewell died by suicide. His mother Megan Garcia filed suit against Character.AI and Google (which had invested in the company), alleging the platform deliberately used manipulative design to foster dependency, failed to implement adequate safeguards for minors, and deployed romantic personas that exploited vulnerable teens.
WazirX Exchange Hacked for $230 Million by North Korea's Lazarus Group; Indian Customers' Funds Frozen
On July 18, 2024, hackers drained approximately $230 million — nearly half of WazirX's total assets — from the Indian crypto exchange's multi-signature wallet. Blockchain analysts including Elliptic attributed the attack to North Korea's Lazarus Group. WazirX suspended all withdrawals following the hack, freezing funds for millions of Indian users. The exchange filed for restructuring in Singapore and faced lawsuits in India. The hack illustrated the continued vulnerability of centralized exchanges to state-sponsored cryptocurrency theft, and the devastating impact on retail users who keep assets on exchanges.
Do Kwon's Terra/LUNA Algorithmic Stablecoin Collapses, Wiping $60 Billion in Five Days and Triggering Global Crypto Contagion
On May 7–12, 2022, the Terra/LUNA algorithmic stablecoin ecosystem orchestrated by Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon catastrophically collapsed, wiping approximately $60 billion in market value. TerraUSD (UST), an algorithmic stablecoin backed not by assets but by a complex balancing mechanism linked to LUNA, lost its dollar peg triggering a death spiral. Do Kwon had publicly assured investors the peg was stable even as the collapse began. SEC and DOJ investigations later revealed that Kwon had manipulated markets and made repeated false representations about the protocol's stability and adoption. The collapse triggered contagion that took down Three Arrows Capital, Celsius Network, Voyager Digital, BlockFi, and ultimately FTX later in 2022, wiping over $2 trillion in total crypto market value. Terraform Labs settled with the SEC for $4.47 billion in April 2024 — the largest crypto enforcement action in history. Do Kwon was extradited to the US, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison in December 2025.
Timothy Barnett, 13, Dies by Suicide April 6, 2023 After Snapchat Sextortion; Family Sues Snap Inc.
Timothy Barnett, 13, died by suicide on April 6, 2023, at his home in Sumter, South Carolina after being targeted in a sextortion scheme on Snapchat. Despite his mother Betsy Hauptman regularly conducting 'spot checks' on his phone, Timothy was groomed and blackmailed by a predator using Snapchat's disappearing messages feature to avoid detection. His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Snap Inc. in South Carolina federal court, arguing that Snapchat is 'defectively designed with features that make the platform unreasonably dangerous for minors,' including its core disappearing message functionality that allows predators to evade evidence collection. State Rep. Brandon Guffey, who lost his own son to sextortion, mentored Hauptman through the process.
Gavin Guffey, 17, Dies by Suicide After Instagram Sextortion Scam; Father, SC Rep. Brandon Guffey, Sponsors 'Gavin's Law'
Gavin Guffey, 17, of Rock Hill, South Carolina died by suicide in July 2022 after being targeted in a sextortion scheme on Instagram. Scammers posing as a teenage girl contacted him, solicited intimate photos, and threatened to share them unless he paid. His father, South Carolina State Representative Brandon Guffey, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Meta and became one of the most prominent political advocates for children's online safety in the country. Guffey's advocacy directly helped pass 'Gavin's Law' in South Carolina, which made sexual extortion of minors a felony. He has also received hundreds of calls from other teen sextortion victims and works directly with law enforcement on the issue.
Florida Becomes First State to Ban Children Under 14 From Social Media
On March 25, 2024, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 3 into law, making Florida the first US state to ban children under 14 from creating social media accounts and requiring parental consent for those 14-15. The law mandated platforms to delete accounts of underage users and verify ages. Within months, the tech industry lobby group NetChoice secured a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement, citing First Amendment concerns. The law reflected a broader national trend following years of documented harms to minors; over 40 states introduced similar legislation in 2024. The debate crystallized tensions between free speech, child safety, and platform accountability.
Emily Taylor, 17, Dies in Illinois After Using Snapchat to Buy Fentanyl-Laced Pills
Emily Taylor, 17, died March 5, 2021 after using Snapchat's direct messaging to buy pills she believed were Percocet. They were laced with fatal doses of fentanyl. She took the pill on March 3 in Illinois, lost consciousness, was resuscitated by paramedics, but removed from life support two days later. Her mother had been planning her high school graduation party in the days before her death. Her family joined the SMVLC lawsuit against Snap Inc.
Crypto Romance Scams ('Pig Butchering') Cost Americans $3.8 Billion in 2023; FBI Warns of Epidemic Scale
'Pig butchering' (sha zhu pan) scams — where criminals build extended romantic or friendship relationships online before introducing cryptocurrency investment schemes and eventually draining victims' accounts — reached epidemic scale. The FBI reported Americans lost $3.8 billion to such scams in 2023, a 53% increase from 2022. Victims typically lose their entire savings over weeks or months. The scam operations are often run from crime compounds in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos staffed by trafficked workers. Notable cases include a California widow (Sandra Liu) who lost $4.2M, and a San Francisco engineer (Shreya Datta) who lost $450K. The scheme exploits social isolation and loneliness, specifically targeting recently divorced or widowed individuals.
Senate Judiciary Hearing on Child Safety: Tech CEOs Face Parents of Social Media Victims
On January 31, 2024, CEOs of Meta (Zuckerberg), TikTok (Chew), Snap (Spiegel), Discord (Citron), and X/Twitter testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on child online safety. The hearing became one of the most dramatic Congressional confrontations in tech history as parents of children killed or harmed through social media platforms sat behind the executives. Senator Lindsey Graham told Zuckerberg 'you have blood on your hands'; Zuckerberg turned to address the parents directly and apologized. The hearing accelerated legislative momentum for the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the STOP CSAM Act, which passed the Senate weeks later.
Taylor Swift Deepfake AI Pornographic Images Spread Across X (Twitter), Viewed 47 Million Times
In January 2024, AI-generated explicit deepfake images of Taylor Swift began circulating on X (Twitter), accumulating approximately 47 million views before X suspended the search term. The images originated on Telegram and spread rapidly. X's delayed response — the posts remained up for 17+ hours — drew intense criticism. The incident triggered bipartisan Congressional outrage and renewed calls for federal legislation criminalizing non-consensual AI intimate imagery (NCII). The DEFIANCE Act and similar bills were introduced following the incident. The case illustrated both the scale of AI deepfake harm when targeting a high-profile person and the inadequacy of platform moderation systems for rapidly spreading NCII.
13-Year-Old Pennsylvania Boy Dies by Suicide Two Days After Creating Instagram Account, Targeted by Sextortionists
In early 2024, a 13-year-old boy in Pennsylvania created an Instagram account. Within 48 hours, he was contacted by sextortion criminals, manipulated into sending intimate images, and then subjected to relentless threats and demands. He died by suicide within two days of creating the account. His family went public to warn other parents and advocate for stronger age verification. The case exemplified the speed and systematic nature of sextortion operations targeting newly-joined minors and intensified calls for age verification requirements on social media platforms. Meta faced renewed criticism for its inability to prevent predator accounts from immediately contacting minors.
High School Girls Victimized by AI-Generated Nude Images Created by Male Classmates in Multiple US Schools
In late 2023 and early 2024, a pattern of male high school students using AI image generation tools to create nonconsensual nude images of female classmates emerged across multiple US schools. At Westfield High School in New Jersey, approximately 30 girls discovered male classmates had used AI to generate nude images of them; the images circulated via Snapchat and Discord. Similar incidents emerged at Beverly Hills High School, Issaquah (WA), and schools in multiple states. Victims reported severe psychological harm and school administrators struggled to respond under existing laws that often didn't explicitly cover AI-generated CSAM. The incidents accelerated state legislation: New Jersey, California, and Virginia all passed laws specifically targeting AI-generated NCII involving minors.
Binance and CEO CZ Plead Guilty to Money Laundering in $4.3 Billion Settlement with DOJ
On November 21, 2023, Binance — the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange — and its CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) pleaded guilty to federal charges. Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines and penalties, the largest corporate penalty in US history at that time. CZ pleaded guilty to failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering program, acknowledging that Binance had knowingly processed transactions for sanctioned entities including terrorist groups and sanctioned countries (Iran, Cuba, Syria). CZ resigned as CEO and was sentenced to 4 months in federal prison in April 2024. The case exposed how major crypto exchanges had operated as conduits for illicit finance at massive scale while regulators struggled to keep pace.
Sammy Chapman, 16, Dies of Fentanyl Overdose After Contacting Drug Dealer on Snapchat
Sammy Chapman, 16, a high school junior, died in early 2021 after overdosing on a fentanyl-laced pill purchased through a Snapchat drug dealer. His parents Samuel Chapman and Laura Berman became public advocates and joined Neville v. Snap Inc. They allege Snapchat's algorithms connected their son to the dealer and that disappearing-message features destroyed evidence before law enforcement could investigate.
SafeMoon Founders Charged with Fraud After Draining $200 Million from Investors
SafeMoon launched in March 2021, marketed as a revolutionary cryptocurrency with a 'burn' mechanism. Executives secured celebrity endorsements and promoted it aggressively on TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. In October 2023, DOJ charged CEO Braden John Karony, CTO Thomas Smith, and founder Kyle Nagy with securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, alleging they had secretly drained approximately $200 million from investor funds for personal use including luxury cars, real estate, and travel. SafeMoon allegedly allowed its founders to manipulate the market while misrepresenting the token's security. The SEC filed parallel civil charges. Millions of retail investors lost money as the token declined 95%+ from its peak.
Thodex Crypto Exchange CEO Faruk Fatih Özer Flees Turkey with $2 Billion in Investor Funds, 400,000 Victims
On April 20, 2021, Thodex — one of Turkey's largest cryptocurrency exchanges — abruptly halted trading and locked out over 400,000 users from their funds. Founder Faruk Fatih Özer fled to Albania the same day, taking an estimated $2 billion in customer assets. Turkish authorities issued warrants and arrested over 60 Thodex employees in Istanbul raids. Özer remained a fugitive for over a year before being arrested in Albania in August 2022 and extradited to Turkey in April 2023. In September 2023, an Istanbul court sentenced Özer and two siblings each to 11,196 years in prison for aggravated fraud, money laundering, and running a criminal organization. The collapse became one of Turkey's most high-profile financial crimes and triggered emergency crypto regulatory measures.
Gavin Guffey, 17, Son of SC Lawmaker, Dies by Suicide After Instagram Sextortion
In July 2023, Gavin Guffey, 17, of Rock Hill, SC, was contacted by criminals posing as a teenage girl on Instagram. Within hours of first contact, he was manipulated into sharing intimate images, which were then used to extort him for payment. Approximately 10 hours after initial contact, Gavin died by suicide. His father, South Carolina State Representative Brandon Guffey, went public with his son's story and became one of the leading voices in Congress advocating for the STOP CSAM Act and stronger social media accountability legislation. The case accelerated federal debate over Instagram's role in facilitating child sextortion and Meta's response times to exploitation reports.
Selena Rodriguez, 11, Dies After Instagram and Snapchat Sextortion; Mother Sues Meta and Snap
Selena Rodriguez, 11, of Connecticut, died by suicide on July 28, 2023, after being victimized through sextortion on Instagram and Snapchat. Adult predators contacted Selena through the platforms, obtained intimate images, and threatened to share them if she didn't comply with further demands. Her mother Melissa Rodriguez filed a federal lawsuit against Meta and Snap in 2023, alleging the platforms' design features — including disappearing messages, location tagging, and inadequate age verification — directly enabled the exploitation of her daughter. Selena's case became one of the youngest victims in the ongoing wave of child sextortion deaths, and was cited in Congressional testimony on child online safety legislation.
EEOC v. iTutorGroup: AI Hiring Software Automatically Rejected Women 55+ and Men 60+, Screening Out 200+ Qualified Tutors
iTutorGroup, a Chinese company hiring U.S. residents as online English tutors, programmed its AI recruitment software to automatically reject female applicants aged 55 or older and male applicants aged 60 or older, in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The discrimination was discovered by charging party Wendy Picus, who applied with her real birth date, was immediately rejected, then applied again the following day with a more recent birth date and received an interview offer. The EEOC filed suit on May 5, 2022 — its first-ever AI hiring discrimination lawsuit. More than 200 qualified applicants were screened out because of their age. In August 2023, iTutorGroup settled for $365,000, agreed to adopt anti-discrimination policies, and submitted to five years of EEOC monitoring. The case became the landmark precedent establishing that AI hiring tools are fully subject to federal civil rights laws.
Porcha Woodruff, 8 Months Pregnant, Wrongfully Arrested Due to Facial Recognition Error in Detroit
On January 16, 2023, Porcha Woodruff, a 32-year-old Black woman who was 8 months pregnant, was arrested at her home in Detroit after facial recognition technology misidentified her as a suspect in a carjacking and robbery. Despite having no connection to the crime, she was held in custody for 11 hours. She suffered physical distress during detention and later reported a miscarriage. Detroit police had used DataWorks Plus facial recognition to match her to surveillance footage; she was the sixth documented case in the US of a wrongful arrest based on FRT, and the first documented woman. She subsequently sued the City of Detroit for civil rights violations. The case intensified calls for restrictions on police use of facial recognition technology.
AI-Generated Deepfake Pornography Surge in 2023 Targets Women Without Consent
In 2023, AI-generated deepfake pornography reached an unprecedented scale. Tools using text-to-image and face-swapping AI allowed anyone to generate realistic intimate imagery of real people without consent. Research by Genevieve Oh found that the total number of deepfake videos online doubled in 2023, with 98% being non-consensual and 99% featuring women. Noelle Martin, an Australian woman who discovered realistic deepfakes of herself circulating online since 2017, became a prominent advocate for criminalization. In the US, multiple states passed laws against deepfake porn in 2023. Platforms including Telegram hosted large communities sharing non-consensual deepfakes. The rise created widespread psychological harm to victims and a new category of AI-enabled gender-based violence.
Africrypt Founders Ameer and Raees Cajee Vanish with $3.6 Billion in Bitcoin, South Africa's Largest Crypto Fraud
In April 2021, Africrypt — a South African cryptocurrency investment platform run by brothers Ameer (18) and Raees (21) Cajee — announced it had been hacked, urged investors not to report it to authorities, then disappeared. The platform held approximately 69,000 bitcoins valued at $3.6 billion. Cybersecurity investigators later traced the 'hacker' wallet addresses back to the brothers themselves, confirming it was an exit scam. Employees had lost access to the back-end a week before the alleged hack. In January 2022, investors filed criminal complaints seeking the brothers' arrest. The South African Police Services Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) led the ongoing investigation. The case exposed critical regulatory gaps across Africa's nascent crypto markets.
Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX Exchange Collapses, $8 Billion in Customer Funds Missing; SBF Arrested and Sentenced to 25 Years
On November 11, 2022, FTX — the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange with up to 9.7 million customers — filed for bankruptcy after an extraordinary crisis of confidence. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) had secretly commingled billions of dollars in customer deposits with his affiliated hedge fund Alameda Research, which used the funds for investments, political donations, and personal expenditures. When FTX's insolvency was exposed by a CoinDesk report and Binance announced plans to liquidate its FTT holdings, a bank run began. Over $5 billion was withdrawn in a single day. FTX could not cover withdrawals, stranding an estimated $8 billion in customer funds. SBF was arrested in December 2022, extradited to the U.S., convicted of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, and sentenced to 25 years in federal prison in March 2024. FTX's collapse became the defining fraud case of the 2022 crypto winter.
Ryan Last, 17, Dies by Suicide After Instagram Sextortion Scam; Perpetrator Sentenced to 18 Months
Ryan Last, 17, of San Jose, California died by suicide on February 28, 2022, shortly after falling victim to a sextortion scam on Instagram. An unknown person posing as a romantic interest solicited intimate photos then threatened to share them unless Ryan complied. He died within hours of the extortion escalating. The perpetrator was identified and sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. Ryan's case was cited alongside Gavin Guffey's death in legislative hearings that produced 'Gavin's Law' in South Carolina, making sexual extortion of minors an aggravated felony.
Ciara Gilliam, 22, Dies of Fentanyl Overdose After Purchasing Pills via Snapchat
Ciara Gilliam, 22, died in August 2022 after purchasing counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl through Snapchat. She is one of multiple named plaintiffs in the Social Media Victims Law Center lawsuit against Snap Inc., which alleges the platform's disappearing-message design enabled drug markets to flourish while destroying evidence that law enforcement could have used to prosecute dealers.
Elderly Americans Lose Millions to AI Voice Cloning Grandparent Scams
In early 2023, a wave of AI-powered voice cloning scams targeting elderly Americans and their families emerged. Using as little as 3 seconds of real voice audio from social media, criminals generated convincing AI clones of victims' family members. They then called elderly relatives claiming emergencies — arrests, car accidents, kidnappings — demanding immediate wire transfers or gift cards. Ruth Card, a grandmother in Canada, sent $3,000 after receiving what she believed was her grandson's voice asking for bail money. Jennifer DeStefano (Arizona) received a call with what sounded exactly like her 15-year-old daughter's voice screaming, followed by a man demanding $1 million ransom. The FTC reported Americans lost $2.6 billion to imposter scams in 2022, with AI voice technology dramatically lowering the barrier to such attacks.
Adriana Kuch, 14, Dies by Suicide After TikTok Video of School Attack Goes Viral
On January 19, 2023, Adriana Kuch, 14, of Berkeley Township, NJ, was attacked by four students in a hallway at Central Regional High School. The attack was filmed and posted to TikTok and Snapchat, where it spread rapidly. Rather than receiving support, Adriana was subjected to intense online harassment and taunting over the viral video. School administration did not suspend the attackers. On February 1, 2023, Adriana died by suicide. Her death sparked outrage across New Jersey; the school principal resigned. Her father Michael Kuch filed suit and became a public advocate for stronger social media regulations. The case became central to New Jersey and federal debates on minor online safety.
Adriana Kuch, 14, Dies by Suicide Days After Hallway Assault Video Goes Viral on TikTok with Mocking Comments
Adriana Kuch, 14, of Berkeley Township, New Jersey died by suicide on February 3, 2023, days after a video of her being physically attacked in a hallway at Central Regional High School was uploaded to TikTok and went viral. The video attracted a wave of cruel comments. Four students were charged with assault and harassment. The school superintendent resigned. Her death became a national flashpoint on cyberbullying amplified by algorithmic virality on social media.
Gemini Earn and Genesis Capital Defraud 340,000 Customers of $1.1 Billion; SEC Charges Filed
In November 2022, Genesis Capital — a crypto lending arm of Digital Currency Group — froze withdrawals following losses in the FTX and Three Arrows Capital collapses, locking $1.1 billion in assets belonging to 340,000 customers of Gemini's 'Earn' program. The SEC filed charges against both Gemini and Genesis in January 2023, alleging they had sold unregistered securities through the Earn program. Genesis filed for bankruptcy in January 2023. A prolonged public dispute between Gemini's Winklevoss twins and DCG's Barry Silbert played out on social media. In August 2023, Genesis agreed to settle with customers; a settlement plan was confirmed in late 2023 returning a significant portion of customer funds. The case illustrated systemic risks of crypto yield products sold to retail investors.
HireVue Settles FTC Investigation Over AI Hiring Algorithm After Disability and Bias Concerns
HireVue's AI-powered video interview tool, used by over 700 employers including Delta, Hilton, and Nike, analyzed facial expressions, vocal tone, and word choice from job interview videos to score candidates. Critics including the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed an FTC complaint in 2019, arguing the system discriminated against people with disabilities (non-standard facial expressions, speech patterns) and perpetuated racial and gender bias. Following FTC scrutiny, HireVue discontinued facial expression analysis in January 2021. The FTC issued a report in 2023 warning that AI hiring tools risk automating discrimination. The case illustrated how algorithmic employment tools can embed bias while evading traditional employment discrimination law.
Ava Sorenson, 17, Dies of Fentanyl Overdose After Purchasing Pills Through Snapchat, Arizona
Ava Sorenson, 17, died in October 2022 in Arizona after purchasing counterfeit prescription pills through Snapchat. The pills were laced with a lethal dose of fentanyl. Her family joined the SMVLC class-action lawsuit against Snap Inc., alleging Snapchat's ephemeral messaging and algorithmic features enabled drug dealers to operate undetected and reach minors.
Celsius Network CEO Alex Mashinsky Freezes $25 Billion in Customer Withdrawals, Files Bankruptcy Amid Fraud Allegations
On June 12, 2022, Celsius Network — a crypto lending platform with approximately 1.8 million customers worldwide — abruptly froze all withdrawals, swaps, and transfers, trapping an estimated $25 billion in customer funds. Celsius had invested $935 million of customer deposits into the Terra/LUNA protocol and Anchor Protocol's 20% yield promises. Following Terra's collapse, Celsius was rendered insolvent. CEO Alex Mashinsky had continued to publicly assure customers that Celsius was safe even as the platform faced a liquidity crisis. Celsius filed for bankruptcy in July 2022. Mashinsky was later charged with fraud by the DOJ and SEC, accused of systematically lying to customers about Celsius's financial health. In 2025, Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison. Celsius's collapse became one of the clearest examples of how misrepresentation and regulatory gaps in crypto lending devastated retail investors.
Randal Reid Wrongfully Jailed for 6 Days After Facial Recognition Misidentification in Baton Rouge
In November 2022, Randal Reid, 29, of Baton Rouge, LA, was arrested in Baton Rouge on warrants from DeKalb County, Georgia, for purse thefts he had nothing to do with. He had never been to Georgia. DeKalb County police had used facial recognition technology to identify a suspect from surveillance footage; the algorithm incorrectly matched Reid. Reid was held in jail for six days before authorities confirmed he was the wrong man. He was released with no charges filed. An attorney for Reid, Tommy Calogero, stated that facial recognition's error rate is significantly higher for Black men. The case became the fifth publicly documented wrongful arrest linked to facial recognition in the United States.
FTX Collapse: Sam Bankman-Fried Arrested After $8 Billion Customer Funds Missing
On November 8, 2022, Binance CEO CZ publicly announced Binance would liquidate its FTX token holdings, triggering a bank run on FTX. Within 72 hours, the second-largest crypto exchange filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was arrested in December 2022 in the Bahamas and extradited to the US. Federal prosecutors revealed that SBF had systematically diverted billions of dollars in customer deposits to his hedge fund Alameda Research, using the funds for real estate, political donations, celebrity endorsements, and personal enrichment. Approximately $8 billion in customer funds could not be accounted for. SBF was convicted on 7 counts of fraud and conspiracy in October 2023 and sentenced to 25 years in prison in March 2024. Over 1 million creditors filed claims.
Englyn Roberts, 14, Dies by Suicide After Instagram and Snapchat Addiction, Louisiana
Englyn Roberts, 14, of New Iberia, Louisiana died by suicide on September 9, 2020 following years of addiction to Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok she had downloaded without her parents' knowledge at age 11. In September 2019, Instagram's algorithm recommended she and a friend links to extremely violent content including a video of a suicide. On July 15, 2020, Englyn messaged on Instagram that if she ever hurt herself her parents were not to blame. Her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Meta, Snap, and ByteDance, alleging the platforms' addictive design and harmful content recommendation led directly to her death.
Celsius Network Freezes Withdrawals and Files Bankruptcy, Locking $4.7 Billion in Customer Funds
On June 12, 2022, Celsius Network — a crypto lending platform with 1.7 million customers and $11.8 billion in assets — suddenly froze all withdrawals, swaps, and transfers. CEO Alex Mashinsky had promoted Celsius as safer than a bank, paying up to 18% annual yield on crypto deposits. The platform had suffered severe losses in the Terra/Luna collapse and from undisclosed risky lending practices. Celsius filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 13, 2022, revealing a $1.2 billion hole in its balance sheet. Customer funds were locked for over a year. In July 2023, Mashinsky was arrested on federal fraud, securities, and commodity manipulation charges. Customers eventually recovered a portion of assets through bankruptcy proceedings, but many lost significant savings.
Sextortion via Instagram Drives Wave of Teen Suicides; FBI Issues National Alert
In early 2022, the FBI and National Center for Missing & Exploited Children documented a sharp rise in 'financial sextortion' targeting teenage boys on Instagram, Snapchat, and Discord. Organized criminal networks — many based in West Africa — created fake female profiles, persuaded teen boys to send intimate images, then immediately demanded payment under threat of sharing the images with family, friends, and schools. When victims couldn't pay, perpetrators escalated threats. Multiple teen boys died by suicide within hours or days of initial contact. Jordan DeMay, 17 (Michigan), died March 25, 2022; Nigerian brothers Samuel and Samson Ogoshi were extradited and convicted. Ryan Last, 17 (California), and Carson Clouse, 17 (Ohio), also died by suicide in February 2022. The FBI issued a national alert in June 2022. Meta, under scrutiny for enabling fake account proliferation, pledged enhanced minor protections.
Terra/Luna Ecosystem Collapse Wipes $60 Billion in Value; Do Kwon Charged with Fraud
Between May 7-13, 2022, the Terra/Luna cryptocurrency ecosystem catastrophically collapsed. TerraUSD (UST), an 'algorithmic stablecoin' meant to maintain $1 parity, lost its peg and crashed to near zero, dragging LUNA (the sister token) from $80 to fractions of a cent. Approximately $60 billion in market value was erased in days. The collapse triggered a wider crypto market crash, contributing to the failures of Three Arrows Capital, Celsius Network, and Voyager Digital. Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon had aggressively marketed Anchor Protocol, which paid 20% annual returns on UST deposits — an unsustainable rate critics had long flagged. South Korean prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Do Kwon in September 2022; he was arrested in Montenegro in March 2023 and extradited to the US in 2024 to face federal fraud charges.
Nylah Anderson, 10, Dies After TikTok Algorithm Pushes Blackout Challenge to Her 'For You' Feed
Nylah Anderson, 10, of Chester, Pennsylvania was found unresponsive in her bedroom on December 7, 2021 after attempting the 'blackout challenge' — a viral trend TikTok's algorithm had recommended to her via the For You Page. She died five days later on December 12. Forensic analysis confirmed TikTok was in use at the time. Her mother Tawainna Anderson sued TikTok, alleging its algorithm pushed the deadly challenge to her daughter despite other children having already died from it. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later ruled TikTok could be held liable for its algorithmic recommendations, rejecting Section 230 immunity — a landmark ruling in platform liability law.
Cody Mehlos, 21, Found Dead After Purchasing Fentanyl Pills via Snapchat Dealer
Cody Mehlos, 21, of Big Bear Lake, California was found dead on January 2, 2021 after purchasing pills through Snapchat he believed were Percocet. The pills contained lethal doses of fentanyl. His girlfriend reported he had not shown up for work; his mother found him in his apartment with M-30 counterfeit pills nearby. His family is among the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit against Snap Inc. alleging Snapchat's disappearing-message features and algorithmic recommendations enabled drug dealers to reach young adults undetected.
Axie Infinity Ronin Bridge Hacked for $625 Million in Largest Crypto Theft to Date
On March 23, 2022, hackers stole approximately $625 million in Ethereum and USDC from the Ronin Network, a blockchain sidechain supporting the Axie Infinity play-to-earn game. The attackers (later attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group by the US Treasury) exploited compromised validator private keys. The breach wasn't discovered until March 29 when a user reported being unable to withdraw funds. Thousands of play-to-earn players, particularly in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, who relied on Axie Infinity income during COVID had funds trapped or lost. Sky Mavis pledged to reimburse users from a fundraising round, but repayments were partial. The hack remains one of the largest crypto thefts in history.
Emma Claire Gill, 16, Dies by Suicide After Social Media Addiction and Online Bullying
Emma Claire Gill, 16, of Goldonna, Louisiana, died by suicide in June 2021 following years of social media addiction and cyberbullying across Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok. Emma first accessed social media accounts at age 11. Her family described a gradual descent: algorithms began serving her increasingly distressing content including self-harm material, her social relationships moved primarily online, and she experienced cyberbullying. Her mother, Kathleen Gill, filed a federal lawsuit in 2022 against Meta, Snap, and ByteDance (joined with the MDL No. 3047 litigation), alleging the platforms' addictive design and recommendation algorithms drove her daughter's mental health deterioration. The case is part of the growing MDL against social media companies.
BitConnect Founder Satish Kumbhani Indicted for $2.4 Billion Crypto Pyramid Scheme
BitConnect operated from 2016 to 2018, promising investors returns of up to 40% per month through a fictitious 'trading bot.' The platform raised $2.4 billion from global retail investors through a pyramid scheme structure that paid early investors with new investor funds. When the scheme collapsed in January 2018, investors lost billions. U.S. promoter Glenn Arcaro pleaded guilty in September 2021 and agreed to forfeit $24 million. In February 2022, founder Satish Kumbhani was indicted on federal charges of wire fraud conspiracy, commodity price manipulation, and money laundering. The case became one of the largest crypto fraud cases in history.
ID.me Facial Recognition System Blocks Thousands From Accessing Unemployment Benefits
By mid-2021, at least 30 US states and the IRS had contracted ID.me to verify identity for accessing unemployment benefits and tax accounts using facial recognition. The system required applicants to upload a selfie and government ID; when the algorithm couldn't match, applicants were placed in queue for a live video interview — often waiting weeks or being rejected outright. Thousands of claimants — disproportionately Black and brown workers, elderly individuals, and those without smartphones — were locked out of benefits they were legally entitled to. Facial recognition researchers documented higher error rates for darker skin tones (up to 34% higher failure rates for dark-skinned women vs. light-skinned men per MIT Media Lab research). Critics including Sen. Ron Wyden called for the IRS to abandon the system; the IRS announced it would phase out ID.me facial recognition in February 2022 following public outcry.
Michael Williams Jailed for Murder Based Solely on ShotSpotter AI Alert, No Corroborating Evidence
In 2021, Michael Williams was jailed in Chicago and charged with first-degree murder after police relied on a ShotSpotter alert as the primary evidence linking him to the scene of Safarian Herring's death. ShotSpotter uses an AI algorithm and a network of microphones to triangulate gunshot locations, but an Associated Press investigation found the system is deeply statistically unreliable. Williams spent months incarcerated while prosecutors built their case around the AI-generated alert. The case became a landmark example of how AI-generated evidence, presented as objective fact, can substitute for genuine investigative work and cause catastrophic harm to innocent people. Charges were ultimately dropped after evidence failed to corroborate the ShotSpotter alert.
Manuel 'Manny' Navarro, 17, Dies After Snapchat Connects Him to Fentanyl Dealer Following Surgery
Manuel 'Manny' Navarro, 17, of Chino Hills, California died on June 1, 2021 after seeking pain relief following collarbone surgery from a skateboarding accident. Snapchat's public profile and geolocation features connected him to a dealer who sold him a counterfeit Percocet containing a fatal dose of fentanyl. The same dealer had been linked to another teen's non-fatal overdose in 2020 yet retained an active Snapchat account. His family sued Snap Inc., citing the platform's design as enabling drug dealers to operate without accountability.
BitMart Exchange Hacked for $196 Million, Customers Unable to Access Funds
On December 4, 2021, hackers breached cryptocurrency exchange BitMart and drained approximately $196 million in tokens from two hot wallets (Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain). Security firm PeckShield identified the exploit, which involved a stolen private key. BitMart CEO Sheldon Xia initially called it a 'small-scale security breach' before acknowledging the full $196M scope. The exchange suspended all withdrawals, leaving users unable to access their funds for weeks. BitMart promised to compensate affected users from company capital, but the timeline and completeness of repayment remained disputed. The hack highlighted ongoing hot wallet security failures among centralized exchanges.
Facebook's Algorithm Amplified Hate Speech and Violence Against Ethnic Tigrayans in Ethiopia
During the Ethiopian civil war (Tigray conflict, beginning Nov 2020), Facebook's engagement-maximizing algorithm amplified posts calling for ethnic violence against Tigrayans, including calls to destroy Tigrayan villages and murder civilians. Internally, Meta employees flagged the danger. Documents revealed in the 2021 Facebook Papers showed that fewer than 10% of global hate-speech violations were being actioned due to resource and translation gaps in non-English languages. Advocacy groups reported that Facebook's content moderation in Amharic and Tigrinya was severely under-resourced, allowing incitement to genocide-level violence to spread. The UN later cited social media as a contributing factor in atrocities.
Squid Game Crypto Token SQUID Collapses in Rug Pull, Losing Investors $3.4 Million
In late October 2021, anonymous developers launched 'SQUID', a cryptocurrency claiming to be linked to the Netflix show Squid Game. The token surged from $0.01 to over $2,800 within days due to viral social media hype, FOMO buying, and coverage by major crypto publications. On November 1, 2021, the developers executed a rug pull: they withdrew all liquidity from the trading pool in seconds, crashing the token's price from $2,800 to essentially zero. Investors lost approximately $3.4 million. The token's code included an anti-dumping mechanism that prevented buyers from selling — a red flag missed or ignored by most buyers. The incident illustrated the dangers of meme coins and the ease of anonymous crypto fraud.
Evolved Apes NFT: Developer 'Evil Ape' Vanishes with $2.7 Million After Rug Pull
In late September 2021, an NFT collection called 'Evolved Apes' launched with promises of a fighting game where holders could battle using their apes. The collection of 10,000 NFTs sold out quickly. One week after launch, the anonymous developer known as 'Evil Ape' disappeared, taking 798 ETH (approximately $2.7 million) from the project's wallet. The developer deleted their Twitter account and website. The promised game was never built. Approximately 3,000 buyers were left holding worthless NFTs with no development, support, or recourse. The case became emblematic of NFT rug pull fraud, where developers exploit collector enthusiasm and promise future utility before absconding with funds.
Frances Haugen Facebook Papers Reveal Instagram Knew of Teen Mental Health Harm for Years
In September 2021, former Meta product manager Frances Haugen provided internal company research to the Wall Street Journal and later testified before the US Senate. The documents (dubbed the 'Facebook Papers') showed Meta had commissioned research since 2019 finding that Instagram was harmful to teen girls' mental health — particularly around body image, eating disorders, and suicidal ideation. Internal slides noted: 'We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls.' Despite knowing this, Meta chose not to implement substantive changes and continued to roll out Instagram for Kids. Haugen's testimony catalyzed major legislative action, including the Kids Online Safety Act, and became central evidence in the MDL No. 3047 litigation against Meta.
Amazon Algorithm Fired Delivery Drivers Without Human Review, Trapping Them in Appeals Limbo
Amazon's automated management system for its gig-economy Flex delivery drivers fired workers without human oversight, leaving them unable to effectively appeal. The algorithm assessed performance metrics including GPS deviations, package scan timing, and customer complaints. When thresholds were breached, termination emails were sent automatically. Stephen Normandin (Phoenix, AZ), a driver for 2.5 years, received a termination email citing a photo of him that he said wasn't him; months of appeals led nowhere. Dricka Barbosa was fired after her route data triggered the system. Reporting revealed a pattern: drivers fired by algorithm had almost no recourse, as human supervisors could not override the system. The practice highlighted how AI-driven labor management strips workers of employment protections.
Twitter's Image Cropping Algorithm Shows Racial Bias, Internal Audit Finds (2021)
Twitter's automated image-cropping algorithm (Saliency model), used to generate preview thumbnails, consistently cropped out Black faces in favor of white faces. First surfaced by users in October 2020 when examples went viral showing Black politicians and celebrities cropped out. Twitter launched an internal audit, published August 2021, confirming the model showed racial and gender bias. Twitter subsequently disabled the automated cropping feature in May 2021 and presented findings at FAccT 2021 conference. The incident illustrated how AI systems trained on non-representative datasets replicate and amplify systemic biases at massive scale.
Twitter Bitcoin Hack: Attackers Hijack Obama, Biden, Musk, and Apple Accounts to Steal $120,000 in Bitcoin Scam
On July 15, 2020, attackers used a phone spear-phishing attack to gain access to Twitter's internal admin tools, then hijacked over 130 high-profile verified accounts including Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Apple, and Uber to post a Bitcoin scam promising to double any BTC sent to a wallet address. Victims sent approximately $120,000 in Bitcoin before Twitter took emergency action to lock the accounts. Three suspects were later charged: 17-year-old Graham Clark of Tampa, Florida was identified as the ringleader; Mason Sheppard and Nima Fazeli were also indicted. Clark pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in juvenile prison. The attack exposed critical vulnerabilities in Twitter's internal access controls and marked one of the most high-profile social media platform security failures in history.
Robert Williams Wrongfully Arrested After Detroit Police Rely on Faulty Facial Recognition Match
On January 9, 2020, Robert Williams, a Black man, was arrested in his driveway in front of his wife and two young daughters by Detroit police acting on a facial recognition match generated by software made by DataWorks Plus. The system matched Williams to grainy surveillance footage of a shoplifting suspect at a Shinola watch boutique — Williams was ranked only the ninth-best match and had a clear alibi. He was held for 30 hours before release. Documented as the first known wrongful arrest in the US caused by facial recognition technology, the case became a landmark civil rights matter. The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit in 2021; a settlement reached in June 2024 required the Detroit Police Department to implement strict guardrails on facial recognition use and audit all FRT-linked warrants back to 2017.
Netherlands Court Bans SyRI Welfare Surveillance AI as Human Rights Violation
The Dutch government's System Risk Indication (SyRI) used AI to profile welfare recipients and predict fraud by correlating dozens of data points including housing data, employment history, utility records, and debt. Used in lower-income neighborhoods from 2014-2019, SyRI disproportionately targeted immigrant and low-income communities. In February 2020, the Hague District Court ruled SyRI violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights due to lack of transparency and disproportionate mass surveillance. The ruling was the first court decision in Europe finding an AI government system violated human rights. It set a precedent for algorithmic accountability in public-sector AI deployment across the EU.
NIST Study Finds Widespread Racial and Gender Bias in 189 Facial Recognition Algorithms
In December 2019, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published the Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT), evaluating 189 commercial facial recognition algorithms from 99 developers. The study found that most algorithms showed significantly higher false positive rates for African-American and Asian faces compared to white faces — in some cases 10 to 100 times higher error rates. The study also found higher error rates for women, elderly, and children. Despite being published in 2019, the findings were widely cited through 2020-2022 as law enforcement agencies expanded FRT use. The research provided the empirical foundation for the string of wrongful arrests of Black men documented 2020-2023.