Naga Munchetty left ‘outraged and furious’ after being targeted by AI deepfake nude images scam and says ‘I’m frightened of what is happening in the world’

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Naga Munchetty has spoken out about being victim to a deepfake scam. 

The BBC newsreader, age 51, shared that scammers used a photo of her head photoshopped onto a nude body as a way to lure people to a fraudulent website. She described the scammers as clever, deceitful, and malicious.

Naga Munchetty told The Times she wasn’t bothered that her face was digitally placed on a nude body, as she understood it wasn’t real. However, she was furious that the image was being used in a scam to trick people.

Okay, so last February was just… awful. I was scrolling and saw these disgusting ads everywhere on X and Facebook – seriously, they were targeting me! Someone had taken pictures and badly photoshopped my face onto naked bodies. It was so crudely done, but still horrifying. I mean, can you believe someone would do that? It’s just… I can’t even talk about it without getting upset. It was just a really violating experience, seeing those images everywhere.

She explained that the image was designed to resemble a BBC News article, and anyone who clicked on it was redirected to a fraudulent online trading site.

In an interview with The Times, she described scammers as clever, deceitful, and malicious individuals. She explained that they had used an image of her head photoshopped onto a nude body as bait to lure people to a fraudulent website.

It didn’t bother me that my face was digitally placed on a nude body – I understood it wasn’t real. What really angered me was that this fake image was being used to trick people and scam them.

‘I am outraged and furious.’

Last year, when she first came across the article, she described feeling shocked and amused. She wondered why anyone would spend money to share something so clearly untrue, and what they hoped to gain by doing so. She even questioned if their intentions were harmful.

Honestly, it was terrifying. I started getting whispers about someone using my name, and I immediately brought it up with the team at 5 Live. We started looking into it, and it quickly became clear – people were actually using my face and name to scam others! They were trying to trick people out of their money, pretending to be me. It was a total shock, and honestly, I felt so violated that someone would do that.

When you clicked on the ads, they led to a fake news article that looked real, even using the BBC’s logo and pictures.

I’m not the only well-known person scammers have used to try and steal people’s money.

I’ve been following the recent BBC situation, and it’s really highlighted a concerning trend I’m seeing everywhere. It seems like we’ve lost the ability to have healthy disagreements. It’s become this ‘you’re either with me or against me’ mentality, and that’s what Naga Munchetty was pointing out amidst the internal investigation. It’s particularly worrying when it surfaces around something like a bullying claim, but it’s a broader issue about how we communicate and respect different viewpoints.

Her job at the broadcaster is now in doubt, as they’ve begun a formal investigation after receiving reports that she bullied colleagues.

As a lifestyle expert, I’ve been following this situation closely. Back in August, I started hearing rumblings from people within the TV industry about concerns regarding a colleague’s approach on a morning show and her radio program – some described it as quite direct. Then, just a few months later in November, it became public that the network actually launched a formal investigation into these claims.

Naga recently shared that while people are now developing their own impressions of her, she’s also facing awful racist abuse online from social media trolls.

Naga recently told The Times that people seem to be taking sides and struggling to have respectful disagreements. She described the current atmosphere as tense and worrying, suggesting we’re losing the ability to politely disagree with one another.

Naga explained that she had to block people on social media because she received a lot of hateful messages online.

She explained that she frequently blocks people online. Recently, someone responded to her Instagram post about donating blood with a prejudiced question about whether Indian blood was acceptable. She avoids reading potentially abusive messages, stating she doesn’t feel responsible for changing the opinions of those who post hateful comments; she’s happy to simply ignore them.

This interview follows accusations that the presenter made a subtle, critical comment about BBC Breakfast’s weather presenter, Carol Kirkwood, on her final show.

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2026-04-14 12:48