Senior researcher Dr. Sanjana Hattotuwa has published what he describes as Sri Lanka’s first systematic study into AI-generated fake women profiles operating on Facebook, revealing a coordinated network designed to lure users towards gambling, adult chat, crypto and other dubious financial platforms.
The report examined 10 Facebook accounts and found that none belonged to real women. Instead, the accounts allegedly used AI-generated identities to create fabricated personas that attracted users through emotionally charged posts portraying loneliness, widowhood, divorce or financial hardship.
According to the study, the network published 1,706 posts that generated more than 890,000 engagements. The report also found evidence of coordinated behaviour, including identical captions, near-duplicate posts and content shared across multiple accounts within minutes.
Dr. Hattotuwa said the operators used profile biographies, shortened links and first comments to direct users to external websites, while frequently changing the identities of the fake personas between Facebook and the destination pages.
The report notes there is little evidence that the network was being used for political influence. However, it warns that the same infrastructure could potentially be repurposed for influence operations because it has already built audiences and trust using deceptive AI-generated identities.
The study also found similar networks operating in other languages, including Spanish, Italian and Malayalam, suggesting the Sri Lankan operation may be part of a broader international model.
Dr. Hattotuwa concluded that many of the deceptive practices relied on existing Facebook features, making it difficult for ordinary users to distinguish genuine profiles from AI-generated personas. (Newswire)