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Hollywood actor Ioan Gruffudd has warned fans about explicit AI-generated images and videos being used to impersonate him after a woman approached him at a convention, believing she had been involved in a secret relationship with him for more than a year.
The 53-year-old Welsh actor, known for his roles in "Titanic," "Fantastic Four" and the television series "Hornblower," described the discovery as "distressing and disturbing" in an Instagram post, urging followers to avoid engaging with fraudulent accounts using his identity.
Gruffudd said the woman approached him during a recent convention and explained that she believed they had been having an extramarital affair for over a year.
"A woman came to a convention I was recently attending and she was under the impression that she was in an extramarital relationship with me for over a year," he wrote.
According to the actor, the woman showed him hundreds of AI-generated images and videos sent by someone pretending to be him, including material he described as explicit and disturbing.
The contact reportedly began through a Facebook page dedicated to the crime drama Elsbeth, in which Gruffudd played a musician named Angus.
The person operating the account subsequently provided a phone number and encouraged the woman to move their conversations to Telegram, an instant messaging platform, where AI-generated content was used to convince her that she was communicating with the actor.
Following the encounter, Gruffudd made clear that he does not communicate with strangers through unofficial social media accounts or share his personal phone number with people he does not know.
"Please do not engage and never send money! I urge you to ignore and block all contact from anyone that claims to be me," he warned.
The actor also encouraged anyone targeted by the impersonator to report the accounts and phone numbers to the police, confirming that he had already filed a report himself.
Gruffudd joins several public figures, including Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Sir Tom Jones and Martin Lewis, who have spoken out about misleading AI technology and online impersonation.
In January, Welsh singer Sir Tom Jones issued a similar warning after his management discovered numerous fake social media profiles attempting to deceive fans.
His team clarified that Jones only uses verified social media accounts and does not personally contact individuals through private messages.
The singer's management urged followers to report and block suspicious accounts, warning that scammers were attempting to exploit vulnerable members of the public.
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