Police are investigating deepfake nude photos of Singapore Sports School students

SINGAPORE – Police are investigating deepfake nude photos of Singapore Sports School (SSP) students that were taken and distributed by other students.

In response to questions from The Straits Times, school principal Ong Kim Soon said SSP “is aware of the incident regarding the taking and sharing of deepfake photos by our student-athletes”.

“The school will not tolerate such harmful behavior,” he said, adding that it has launched an investigation and filed a police report.

In response to questions from ST, the police confirmed that a report had been filed and that investigations were underway.

A reader who identified herself as the parent of a victim had informed ST in an email on November 12 about the deepfake nude images that were in circulation.

“Many parents of affected female students at the Singapore Sports School are making police reports about fake nude photos of their daughters taken by male students at the school,” the parent said.

When contacted, the parent said female teachers were also targeted and the school has offered counseling to affected students.

“Since we are not allowed to see the photos, we can still deal with them emotionally, although we believe that the perpetrators should never be allowed on the same school grounds,” said the parent.

Mr Ong said the school could not share more information as the police investigation was ongoing.

In a WhatsApp message to parents, the school said its disciplinary committee has been working with police to address the matter, and that it will inform parents of any “important developments”.

Police have been provided with website links related to the case and are assisting in requesting the removal of all related images from these sites, the release said.

“All students involved are being questioned by police and their mobile devices have been temporarily seized for forensic examination,” the report said. This is to identify and remove any remaining inappropriate content.

Devices will be cleared of such content before being returned to students, the school said, adding that police have requested permission to conduct telephone interviews with some of the affected students.

According to the report, the school has begun imposing disciplinary measures, including caning for some students and additional measures such as bans on sports travel, suspensions from school, training and room and board, where appropriate.

The father of one victim told CNA that a group of boys began generating and distributing deepfake nude photos of their female classmates in June. He said he was informed about the case on November 11 during a conversation with his daughter’s mentor.

He told CNA that the perpetrators used WhatsApp to communicate, and that there were two groups: one took the photos, while the other distributed them. He added that some boys were privately caned on November 11.

This incident follows growing concerns that deepfake-on-demand services are becoming increasingly publicly available, allowing users to generate realistic deepfakes in seconds – and often for free – by simply uploading a photo of someone’s face to an online website that uses artificial intelligence used to create the photo with a digitally rendered body.

Deepfake nudes are fake images or videos where a person’s face is superimposed on explicit content, such as photos or videos, using AI technology.