Troublesome Tithes: Scammers Use Deepfakes to Trick Churchgoers
A growing number of pastors and ministers are warning their congregations about scams using artificial intelligence (AI) to impersonate them through online messages, calls, and deepfakes.
Throughout the United States—including Alabama, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, and New York—and even beyond, such as a megachurch in the Philippines, faith leaders have been warning their followers about these scams.
Confusing the issue for churchgoers is the fact that a lot of real pastors and ministers with large online followings are asking for donations or selling items on their platforms. But what they are selling is different from their AI mimics, and the funds go to a different account, of course.
“With the help of social media, religious authority figures have been able to reach believers far beyond their neighborhoods, but the proliferation of content featuring their likenesses and voices has also provided the perfect opportunity for scammers wielding generative AI tools,” WIRED recently reported.
With so much video and audio content online posted by religious leaders, scammers are able to sample that information and feed it into an AI tool. Along with targeting members of a church, these captured and manipulated voices can be used in increasingly sophisticated phishing attempts to try to get religious institutions themselves to transfer funds to scammers.
Beyond targeting people’s bank accounts, AI featuring or targeting a minister, pastor, or notable church figure has also been used to spread disinformation.
In July 2025, TD Jakes, an author and pastor from Texas, had to deal with rumors that he attended sex parties hosted by Sean “Diddy” Combs, who at the time was facing federal charges of sex crimes. Jakes said that an investigation into the online rumors found that 44,000 of the accounts spreading the claims were bots.
Deepfakes of Pope Leo XIV have also surfaced on social media, including ones where he delivers a message to the president of Burkina Faso, delivering false sermons, and attacking U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
On other occasions, the motive for a deepfake video or other AI-generated product is unclear, such as short-form videos with unknown (and likely fictional) pastors delivering a viral sermon. WIRED pointed to one TikTok account, Guided in Grace, that notes in its bio it is using AI “to show a parallel universe,” but the captions on its videos, which were all posted in October 2025, do not indicate that they are AI-generated. The account has more than 10,000 followers.
Spotting deepfakes is getting harder and harder. Take the extra moment to try and determine if what you’re watching is real or just more AI slop. One method is the SIFT model:
- Stop—don’t make snap decisions or actions.
- Investigate the source.
- Find better coverage by looking for a trusted source reporting on the event or verification.
- Trace the original context.
For information on deepfakes and how generative AI is used by fraudsters and other threat actors, check out Security Management’s focus on deepfakes and fraud.
