Naga Munchetty has spoken out about falling victim to a deepfake scam.
The BBC Breakfast presenter, 51, revealed that fraudsters superimposed her face onto a nude body to lure unsuspecting people towards criminal websites.
"Scammers are smart, conniving, manipulative, wicked people," she told The Times. "My head was put on a naked body and used as clickbait to drag people into a scam site."
The broadcaster made clear that seeing her likeness manipulated in such a way did not cause her personal distress.
BBC Breakfast's Naga Munchetty was targeted in fake images
| BBC"I wasn't upset that my face was on a naked body, because I knew it was fake, but the fact that it was being used to lure people into being scammed made me so mad," she explained. "I am outraged and furious."
Other manipulated images of Ms Munchetty were previously distributed as paid advertisements across X and Facebook, crafted to resemble legitimate BBC News content.
"Paid-for ads are popping up across X and Facebook, some including crudely mocked-up images of me naked - my face badly photoshopped onto someone else's body," Ms Munchetty previously wrote.
When users clicked on these deceptive adverts, they were redirected to a bogus cyber trading platform intended to defraud them of their money.
Naga Munchetty opened up about her fury over the fake pictures circulating to scam people
|GETTY
The Radio 5 Live host acknowledged that criminals were exploiting her public profile and recognisable face to deceive people into parting with their savings through these elaborate schemes.
Ms Munchetty first encountered the doctored photographs in February last year, leaving her feeling both humiliated and perplexed.
"I was both mortified and bemused, curious about who would pay good money to spread such obvious nonsense," she recalled.
"And what was their motive? Is it something malicious? Someone with an axe to grind?"
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Naga Munchetty has worked on BBC Breakfast since 2014 | GETTY
Rather than simply ignoring the situation, the presenter took action by raising the matter with her Radio 5 Live production colleagues.
Together, they began investigating the suspicious advertisements to understand what was happening.
Their enquiries quickly revealed the true nature of the scheme: criminals were systematically using her name and image to swindle members of the public out of their hard-earned cash.
"I'm not the first high-profile face to be used by scammers to trick people out of their hard-earned money," she acknowledged.
When users clicked on these deceptive adverts, they were redirected to a bogus cyber trading platform intended to defraud them of their money
|GETTY
Ms Munchetty is far from alone in being exploited by such fraudsters.
Fellow 5 Live presenter Martin Lewis has previously spoken publicly about his likeness being used to promote cryptocurrency scams.
Wildlife broadcaster Chris Packham told Ms Munchetty that fake articles featuring his image first appeared on social media two years ago.
When he recently joined Bluesky, bogus accounts began reposting these scams from other platforms within hours.