New Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: AI Deepfakes

AI is a very impressive technology, there are new ways for wolves to harm your flock. AI can now generate very realistic audio, images, and videos called DeepFakes. This has already been used to deceive people and will continue to be a bigger and bigger issue as the technology progresses.

DeepFake Deception Tactics

While there are many ways DeepFakes can be used, for good or for ill, we will be highlighting three fakeries. This will be an overview but if you want to learn more, Youtube investigational journalist Coffeezilla has a fantastic video on Youtube covering the topic.

Mass Produced Political Propaganda

While propaganda isn’t anything new to the political realm, AI DeepFakes can produce propaganda at speeds unknown previously. After Maduro’s arrest in 2026 under the Trump administration, there were many videos circulating online about the Venezuelan people celebrating the arrest and protesting the arrest. A lot of these videos turned out to be AI-generated[1][2]. Even though Latin Americans largely support the arrest [3], these AI-generated videos still deceived lots of people when they went viral.

Propaganda’s main goal is to wear out individuals into silence through constant deception. Deepfaked political propaganda will produce content faster than people can reasonably fact-check content. Be weary of anything you see posted to social media related to political propaganda. Anyone can pose as anyone else and post realistic fake content.

Illicit Sexual Material

As technology has advanced, people immediately find ways to use it to make sexually explicit material. Originally, it was porno magazines and videos which you had to buy from the store. Then the internet allowed mass sharing of video online from the comfort of your home. Now DeepFakes allows you to create sexually explicit content without the hassle of using paid (or forced) actors. You can now take a photo of someone and use AI to generate pornographic photos and videos without their consent!

Deepfaking Children

Ever since the introduction of the cell phone, there has been a major problem with high schoolers sharing nude photos of themselves and classmates[4]. Previously, victims would need to be coerced into sharing nudes. Now criminals can take an innocent photo of your daughter, niece, sister, etc and AI-generate sexually explicit material of them. Laguna Beach High School recently had an investigation of their students generating "inappropriate photos” of their classmates[5].

Scams

“Just a single image and five seconds of audio online mean that it’s definitely possible for a scammer to make some kind of realistic deepfake of you,”[7]

Deepfake technology allows scammers to now mimic anyone with very little photos and audio. Many people have already started falling for these scams [8]. These can range from impersonating CEO’s to faking your children being kidnapped to romance scams. There are many new avenues that deserve articles of their own.

Protecting Your Flock

While there are many new ways to harm people through DeepFakes, your flock doesn’t have to be helpless victims. Here are some ways to safe guard yourself from DeepFakes.

Awareness

Most of your congregation, especially those who aren’t tech-savvy, are probably not aware of the dangers. Provide information through your church bulletin, email list, from the pulpit, etc to make them aware. Maybe find someone to give a short presentation on Sunday morning explaining the dangers.

Family Safe-Words

Encourage families to have words or phrases that are easy to remember but aren’t easily guessed by scammers. These can be used for kids to let their parents know to come and pick them up to verify people’s identity if they call due to a crisis.

Hang Up and Call Back Using their Phone Number provided on their website.

If you get a call from someone claiming to be from the bank, hospital, police, etc with urgent and dangerous news, you can always hang up and call that location back using a phone number provided on their website. If it was a legitimate call, the business will be able to verify. If it was a scam, the business will let you know it was a scam.

Talking to the police

Call your local police department and ask for advice if you think you might be a victim of a scam. The FTC has a great in-depth article with advice for scam victims.

24 Hour Rule

If you see a headline online about something political that makes you overly happy or angry, wait 24 hours and check major news stations. If a major political event happens, then most news stations will release an article about it very quickly. Better yet, wait a few weeks for more information to be released before forming opinions on what happened! Fake news spreads like wildfire, be green grass and not dead, dry kindling.

Protecting your digital presence

All major social media platforms have privacy settings that limit who can see your posts. Change your privacy settings on Facebook, Instagram, etc so that only friends and family can see your posts.

Sources

[1] Butts, D. (2026, January 7). AI-generated content spreads after Maduro’s removal — blurring fact and fiction. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/06/ai-generated-deepfake-videos-venezuelan-viral-us-military-maduro-misinformation.html

[2] Klug, T., & Thoms, S. (2026, January 7). Fact check: These fakes are circulating about Venezuela. dw.com. https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-these-fakes-are-circulating-about-venezuela/a-75409981

[3] Bubola, E. (2026, January 21). Majority of Latin Americans endorsed Trump’s raid in Venezuela, polls show. nytimes.com. Retrieved March 31, 2026, from https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/world/americas/latin-america-venezuela-us-raid-maduro-polls.html

[4] Bowker, A., & Sullivan, M. (2010, July 1). Sexting: Risky Actions and Overreactions. leb.fbi.gov. Retrieved March 31, 2026, from https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/sexting-risky-actions-and-overreactions

[5] Fry, H. (2024, April 7). Laguna Beach High School investigates AI-generated images of students - Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-04-02/laguna-beach-high-school-investigating-creation-of-ai-generated-images-of-students

[6] Coffeezilla. (2026, March 11). Investigating AI deepfakes [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srr0rRgF2Fw

[7] Roscoe, J. (2025, June 4). Deepfake scams are distorting reality itself. WIRED. https://www.wired.com/story/youre-not-ready-for-ai-powered-scams/

[8] How deepfake scams are fueling a new wave of fraud. (n.d.). https://blog.avast.com/how-deepfake-scams-are-fueling-a-new-wave-of-fraud

[9] What to do if you were scammed. (2025, August 21). Consumer Advice. https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-do-if-you-were-scammed

Release Date: March 31, 2026, noon

Last Updated: March 31, 2026, 11:25 a.m.