Today, the threat has evolved. Explicit and intimate non-consensual imagery can now be fabricated entirely through AI without the victim’s knowledge or participation.
FOR over a decade, cases of non-consensual intimate imagery online were often linked to blackmail by loan sharks, spurned lovers and others. Victims were threatened with the release of private images – often taken through coercion or during past intimate relationships – unless they complied with demands such as repaying loans or enduring acts of revenge, commonly referred to as “revenge porn”.
Today, while elements of blackmail remain, the threat has evolved. Such imagery can now be fabricated entirely through artificial intelligence, using deepfake technology to produce non-consensual pornography without the victim’s knowledge or participation. Here are the recent cases:
> April 2025: A 16-year-old school student in Kulai, Johor, was arrested by the police for selling deepfake pornographic images on social media.
He had superimposed the faces real women and girls onto pictures of naked bodies without consent or knowledge.
The boy was taken before the court and had claimed trial, although he pleaded guilty to possessing 14 pornographic images on his mobile phone.
> April 2025: Four people were arrested by the police and over 50,000 items were seized that contained child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and adult pornography that was being shared through peer-to-peer networks via online platforms.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said the arrests were made following a large-scale operation called Op Cyber Guardian that was carried out in Selangor and Pahang.
He said among those arrested were an accountant, a technician, a web designer, and a public servant.
> May 2025: A woman in Kuala Lumpur fell victim to an extortion scam when she was coerced into sending nude photographs as a form of “guarantee” for a loan repayment.
She had applied for a loan of RM3,000 and provided her personal details before the scammers instructed her to make an upfront payment of RM2,000 as a processing fee.
When she was unable to make the payment, the scammers threatened to release her nude photos online unless she complied with their demands. — Compiled by SYED UMAR ARIFF
