Young woman defrauded of deepfake porn video created by close friend using private images leading to criminal conviction in 2021

Summary

A young woman named Jodie discovered that a deepfake porn video featuring her likeness had been shared online, created by her close friend Alex Woolf, a BBC Young Composer of the Year. The video was made using images that had not been publicly shared, including one taken with Woolf himself. Jodie struggled to get the police to take her case seriously, with officers initially claiming no crime had been committed and advising her to contact the porn website directly to have the content removed. Woolf was later convicted in 2021 for sending grossly offensive messages and was described as someone she trusted deeply, making the betrayal especially traumatic. Experts warn that police reports of deepfake porn in the UK, which include 81 cases involving victims as young as 14 over two years, represent only a fraction of the true scale of the issue. Jodie’s experience highlights the challenges victims face in seeking justice, as current legal protections are insufficient and many cases go unreported.