What happened

Simone Simms, the owner of SMS Art Gallery in Nottingham, spent months negotiating with what she believed to be Pierce Brosnan for an exclusive art exhibition. Brosnan is a keen painter.

The gallery advertised the event, selling tickets for up to GBP 500 for a meet-and-greet with the actor. 

However, the real Pierce Brosnan denied any involvement with the exhibition and event, saying he would "never charge for a meet and greet" and that his attorney had sent a cease-and-desist letter to the gallery. 

The exhibition and meet-and-greet were revealed to be a deepfake scam, leaving the gallery owner's livelihood and reputation in ruins.

Ms Simms refunded the GBP 20,000 of sold tickets but was forced to shut her gallery.

Why it happened

The sophistication of deepfake technology, which allows for the creation of highly convincing fake audio and video content, means it is increasingly easy to run scams.