Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd has issued a warning to his followers, saying that scammers are using AI-generated images and videos of him to con fans.
Gruffudd is best known for playing Reed Richards in the Fantastic Four film series, and for his highly publicised divorce from fellow actor Alice Evans.
The 53-year-old urged fans not to engage with anyone impersonating him online, and not to send them money.
Gruffudd said: “Something incredibly distressing and disturbing has been brought to my attention.
“A woman came to a convention I was recently attending and she was under the impression that she was in an extramarital relationship with me for over a year.
“She showed me hundreds of AI images and videos that someone claiming to be me had sent to her. The images were explicit and disturbing.”
The actor, who is from Aberdare, said the woman had been targeted through a Facebook page dedicated to the crime drama Elsbeth, in which he appeared as the charming musician Angus.
He said the page had “sent her a cell number and asked her to communicate via Telegram”, an instant messaging app.
“They began sending AI images and videos to ‘prove’ that it was me,” Gruffudd continued.
“If you believe you are speaking to me via message, Telegram, any social media pages that aren’t this page (@IoanGruffudd), or any other means, this is not me.
“I will never give out my cell number to anyone that I don’t personally know.
“Please do not engage and never send money! I urge you to ignore and block all contact from anyone that claims to be me.
“Lastly, if you have been targeted by this person, please report them and their number to the police for investigation. I have done the same.”
Gruffudd also shared the mobile phone number of the person imitating him.
Other celebrities who have spoken out about the misuse of AI technology include Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Tom Jones and Martin Lewis.
Gruffudd married the actor Bianca Wallace in April 2025, and the couple welcomed their first child together in November of that year.
He has two daughters from his previous marriage to Evans, whom he met on the set of the 2000 film 102 Dalmatians.
The couple married in 2007, but Gruffudd filed for divorce in March 2021. The divorce took two years to finalise amid legal disputes over spousal support, child custody, and allegations that Evans harassed Gruffudd and Wallace on social media.
His film credits include Black Hawk Down (2001), Titanic (1997), Horrible Bosses (2011), and San Andreas (2015).
He has also starred in the ITV thriller Liar as Andrew Earlham and played a forensic pathologist in the ABC drama Harrow.
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