Revelum in the Media: The Forbes, Teleamazonas, and El Observador Investigations into Deepfake Fraud
Revelum's deepfake detection systems supplied the evidence behind two Forbes Colombia investigations, a Teleamazonas national-television investigation in Ecuador, and two El Observador reports in Uruguay, documenting scam campaigns that cloned David Vélez, Mario Hernández, Gustavo Petro, Shakira, Daniel Noboa, Guillermo Tolosa, Sergio Fogel, Carlos Lecueder, and President Yamandú Orsi.
Revelum’s deepfake detection data became the foundation for two Forbes Colombia investigations, a national-television investigation on Ecuador’s Teleamazonas, and two reports in Uruguay’s El Observador, together documenting scam campaigns that cloned the faces of David Vélez, Mario Hernández, Gustavo Petro, Shakira, Daniel Noboa, Guillermo Tolosa, Sergio Fogel, Carlos Lecueder, and Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi. Across print and broadcast, in three countries, the reporting put hard numbers behind a problem most people only sense vaguely: organized criminal networks are cloning trusted public figures and running the results as paid advertising, at scale, in plain sight.
This page is the index to that coverage. Below is what each investigation found, links to the original reporting, and links to our full case-study breakdowns of each campaign.
The Two Forbes Colombia Investigations
Both stories started the same way. Revelum’s monitoring systems, which continuously scan advertising and social platforms for synthetic media, surfaced networks of fraudulent ads built around deepfakes of well-known figures. Forbes Colombia took that detection data and investigated.
David Vélez: a deepfake “scam machine”
In an exclusive investigation published April 9, 2026, Forbes Colombia documented an operation that generated 51 fraudulent ads in a single 30-day window, all cloning David Vélez, founder of the digital bank Nu, to push a fake investment scheme on Facebook and Instagram. The headline called it a “machine” for a reason: a handful of deepfake videos were recycled across dozens of ads with industrial efficiency. Since the article published, Revelum has detected 356 more deepfakes of him, the campaign did not stop when it made the news.
Read our full breakdown: Inside the Deepfake Scam Machine Impersonating David Vélez
Mario Hernández: one network, many faces
Two weeks earlier, on March 27, 2026, Forbes Colombia reported on a second network: 24 fraudulent ads using AI-generated videos of entrepreneur Mario Hernández to promote a fictitious investment platform called “Anticrisis.” Revelum has detected 801 more in the three months since, 825 in total. The same infrastructure was simultaneously impersonating other Latin American figures, including bank executives, which revealed it as a cross-border criminal operation rather than an isolated scam.
Read our full breakdown: The “Anticrisis” Deepfake Network Impersonating Mario Hernández
The Teleamazonas Investigation (Ecuador)
The reach of this work was not limited to print. Teleamazonas, one of Ecuador’s main national television networks, built a segment of its “A la caza de Deep Fakes” investigation directly on Revelum’s data. On air, the presenters credited the source explicitly: “Revelum, the platform that detects deepfakes, has sent us very valuable information about these videos circulating everywhere.”
The segment walked viewers through three live campaigns Revelum had detected:
- President Gustavo Petro (Colombia) — a fake government-backed investment scheme; the figures presented on air were 87 fraudulent ads across 20 pages and 17 distinct videos, running from January through May 2026.
- Shakira — a fake skincare “natural recipe” paired with a “comment to win $1,000” engagement trap; 15 fraudulent ads across 10 pages and 9 distinct videos, peaking around her Copacabana concert.
- President Daniel Noboa (Ecuador) — a fraudulent investment platform built around a fabricated testimonial.
Watch the segment: Teleamazonas — “A la caza de Deep Fakes”
Read our full breakdown: How Teleamazonas Used Revelum’s Data to Expose Deepfakes of Petro, Shakira, and Noboa
The Two El Observador Reports (Uruguay)
Uruguay’s El Observador has published two reports on Revelum’s detection data, both by Juan Pablo De Marco, three days apart: one mapping an entire country’s exposure, the other tracking a single campaign as it escalated.
Uruguay’s most cloned faces: nearly 4,000 ads
On July 26, 2026, El Observador published a report covering an entire country’s exposure rather than a single campaign: nearly 4,000 fraudulent ads targeting Uruguay between January and July 2026, with data through July 22.
The most cloned figures were Guillermo Tolosa, president of the Banco Central del Uruguay (441 ads), Sergio Fogel, co-founder of dLocal (440), and businessman Carlos Lecueder (374, all within eight days). Former president Luis Lacalle Pou, economy minister Gabriel Oddone, and footballer Luis Suárez also appeared. Sixty-two percent of the ads sold fake investment platforms, and monthly volume grew from 33 ads in January to 1,244 in June.
Read our full breakdown: Uruguay’s Most Cloned Faces: 4,000 Deepfake Scam Ads
President Yamandú Orsi: a campaign that “exploded” in three days
Three days later, on July 29, 2026, El Observador followed up on one face in that data set: Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi. Revelum had detected 19 fraudulent ads impersonating him between February 5 and July 23, 2026, and 16 of those appeared in the three days from July 21 to 23. Behind the 19 ads sat just four deepfake videos, three scam stories, and four fake websites across three domains.
The dominant story, the one behind those 16 ads, staged a fake Canal 10 newscast announcing a “bank guarantee” endorsed by the Banco Central, complete with a forged presidential document promising to cover up to US$50,000 in losses. Deposit US$250 or 10,000 pesos, it promised, and earn US$300 to US$500 a day. Two earlier ads invoked a fabricated presidential decree nationalizing ANCAP’s resources; a third sold a fake state investment platform in UTE’s name.
What changed across those months was the craftsmanship. The February video had an accent that was easy to catch by ear. June’s improved in accent and script but still looked poor. The July video was by far the most convincing of the four, in both accent and lip-sync. As Revelum CEO José Cordero told El Observador, the surge “parece indicar el comienzo de un ataque a gran escala: la calidad de los videos ha mejorado notablemente” — it appears to mark the beginning of a large-scale attack, and the quality of the videos has improved markedly.
What This Coverage Establishes
Read together, these campaigns across three countries and three of the region’s most credible outlets point to a single conclusion:
This is one playbook, not isolated incidents. Every case clones a trusted, recognizable figure, because that borrowed authority is the actual product the scam is selling. It is the same dynamic behind executive impersonation on social platforms everywhere.
The channel is mainstream paid advertising. These are not fringe links. They are sponsored ads served by the largest platforms to targeted audiences, consistent with the broader pattern of deepfake fraud across Latin America.
The scale is measurable, and someone has to measure it. Fifty-one ads. Eighty-seven ads. Four thousand ads against a single country in seven months. Networks of domains impersonating bank presidents. These numbers describe infrastructure, and they only became public because they were being counted. Pairing detection data with serious journalism is what turns an invisible problem into a documented one.
What Revelum Does
Revelum detects and removes deepfakes at scale, monitoring advertising and social platforms for synthetic media that impersonates executives, public figures, and brands, then filing and tracking takedowns until the fraudulent content is gone. The evidence behind the Forbes investigations, the Teleamazonas feature, and both El Observador reports came from that same monitoring infrastructure.
If you want to understand your exposure, or put a plan in place before a campaign targets you, we’re here.
We’ll assess your situation and tell you what we’re seeing, typically within 24 hours.
Revelum is a deepfake detection and removal service operating globally, with a focus on the Americas and Europe. We protect executives, public figures, political leaders, and organizations from AI-generated disinformation and fraud.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every situation is different, and we strongly recommend consulting a qualified legal professional for guidance specific to your circumstances. Revelum’s services are operational in nature and do not replace legal counsel.
Frequently asked questions
- Has Revelum been featured in the press?
- Yes. Revelum's deepfake detection data was the basis for two investigations published by Forbes Colombia in 2026, for an investigation aired by Teleamazonas, one of Ecuador's main national television networks, and for two July 2026 reports in Uruguay's El Observador, one on the country's most cloned public figures and one on a campaign impersonating President Yamandú Orsi. Together this coverage documented deepfake scam campaigns impersonating David Vélez, Mario Hernández, Gustavo Petro, Shakira, Daniel Noboa, Guillermo Tolosa, Sergio Fogel, Carlos Lecueder, and Yamandú Orsi.
- What did the Forbes, Teleamazonas, and El Observador investigations find?
- They documented organized criminal networks running deepfake ads on Facebook and Instagram that clone trusted public figures to sell fake investment schemes and products. Forbes covered a network producing 51 fraudulent ads in 30 days impersonating Nu founder David Vélez, and a separate "Anticrisis" platform using AI videos of entrepreneur Mario Hernández. Teleamazonas presented Revelum's data on campaigns impersonating Colombian President Gustavo Petro, the artist Shakira, and Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa. El Observador reported Revelum's country-wide data for Uruguay: nearly 4,000 fraudulent ads in seven months, led by clones of central bank president Guillermo Tolosa, and followed up on a campaign against President Yamandú Orsi in which 16 of its 19 ads appeared in a single three-day window.
- How does Revelum detect these deepfake campaigns?
- Revelum continuously monitors advertising and social platforms for synthetic media that impersonates executives, public figures, and brands, then files and tracks takedowns until the fraudulent content is removed. The evidence behind all of this coverage came from that same monitoring infrastructure.