Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1540142
6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 8 OCTOBER 2025 COURT Woman lost her entire lifesavings in deepfake scam featuring Prime Minsiter Robert Abela A woman told a court that she lost her entire life savings - over €53,000 - after falling victim to an online scam involving deep- fake videos of Prime Minister Robert Abela. The testimony came dur- ing the criminal proceedings against Kateryna Izotkina, a Ukrainian national who cur- rently stands accused of money laundering, fraud, and partici- pation in organised crime. Izot- kina is pleading not guilty. The victim of the scam said she first came across a deepfake video of Abela on Facebook on July 22, promoting an invest- ment scheme. She highlight- ed how she also came across similar videos featuring other high-profile figures, includ- ing former Opposition leader Simon Busuttil, former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, and EU Commission President Ur- sula von der Leyen, all promot- ing the same scheme. Intrigued, she clicked the link and submitted her phone number. Almost immediately, she received a call from a UK number and was encouraged to invest €250. Although her first attempt to transfer funds via her BNF account failed, the transaction went through via her HSBC account. She was then introduced to a supposed financial advisor named "Maria Lipinski", who contacted her daily via Tele- gram. According to the victim, she began using a platform called "Wealth Xpert," where she was shown false graphs indicating profits of around €30 a day. When she questioned the low- er-than-expected returns, since the deepfake had promised €1,000 weekly, she was encour- aged to invest €50,000. She agreed to hand over €25,000 in cash. The woman said she met a courier at Żur- rieq Square and handed over the money in a brown envelope. No receipt was given and Li- pinski claimed the funds were placed in a crypto wallet and she was shown apparent profits. Later, she was instructed to buy bitcoin from a man named "Pablo" in Argentina. She was later informed that all funds had been frozen due to "finan- cial insurance" concerns and was asked to pay an additional €30,000 to resolve the issue. She managed to provide €16,000 and was told the rest would be covered by another cli- ent's funds. This led to further complications, with the scam- mers later claiming she needed to repay the €10,000 difference or risk losing everything. She raised another €12,000, which a Polish woman collected. Another individual claiming to be from Euroclear Belgium threatened her with legal ac- tion for money laundering un- less she paid €20,000 within five days. At this point, she sought her daughter's assistance, who im- mediately recognised the scam, pointing out that the messages and emails appeared to have been generated using ChatGPT. The pair reported the incident to the police, and the Financial Crimes Investigation Depart- ment (FCID) began investigat- ing. Authorities advised the woman to continue interacting with the scammers to gather more evidence. During a staged operation, the woman met Izotkina for a controlled delivery of €10,000 in counterfeit money prepared by police. Izotkina was arrested at the scene after accepting the package. Shortly after the arrest, the woman received a threatening call from someone claiming to be Lipinski, who warned: "You'll be sorry for what you've done. We'll get her out in no time. We're not scammers." "I paid a total of €53,250, prac- tically all my life savings", the woman told the court. Under cross examination, she confirmed that she never spoke to the financial advisor over a video call and that she did not have an understanding of trad- ing or finance and that is why she trusted Lipinski to guide her. The prosecution is being led by AG lawyer Marica Ciantar and Inspector Andy Rotin. Defence lawyers Nicholai Bugeja and Alexander Boichuk are representing Izotkina. The case is being presid- ed over by Magistrate Rachel Montebello. MAYA GALEA mgalea@mediatoday.com.mt The victim of the scam had told investigators she came across a video showing Prime Minister Robert Abela promoting the scam Court acquits man over drunk driving charges after prosecution's blunder A court has acquitted a man of drunk driving charges after it could not reasonably identify the accused as the man who com- mitted the offences from the prosecution's evidence. Marcello Michele Biundo, 51, residing in Sliema, was accused of being intoxicated in public, driving a vehicle in a careless and negligent manner and of refus- ing to provide a breath or urine sample when lawfully requested. He was also accused of involun- tarily causing damage to proper- ty belonging to Infrastructure Malta. The prosecution requested the court, in the event of a guilty ver- dict, Biundo be disqualified from holding all driving licences and penalty points be deducted from his driving licence. The court took into consider- ation all evidence, including the affidavit submitted by a police sergeant. However, it was noted that the affidavit contained in- consistencies. On the first page of the affida- vit, the police officer refers to a person named "Marcello", but no full name and surname were listed for proper identification. On the second page of the affida- vit, the person who refused legal counsel and refused to undergo a breathalyser test was written down as "Massimo". These inconsistencies raised serious doubts about the iden- tity of the individual referred to in the charges, and as such, the affidavit failed to clearly and re- liably link the accused, Marcello Michele Biundo, to the alleged offences committed. The court found that such conflicting in- formation rendered the affidavit unreliable and that there was reasonable doubt as to the iden- tity of the person charged. For these reasons, the court found the man not guilty of all charges brought against him and Biundo was acquitted. The accused was let off scot-free due to the prosecution's blunder