A student at a private high school in Taichung is suspected of using AI Deepfake to target a fellow student from the same school. The student is accused of spreading sexual images on TG, and is believed to have still enrolled in college at the same time, “selecting from the stars.”

A male student at a private high school in Taichung used AI Deepfake to create inappropriate photos of 20 people and distributed them on Telegram; the victims include underage female students. The school has now launched a gender equity investigation, and law enforcement has also gotten involved.

Taichung private high school student involved in Deepfake of female students, spreading sexual images on TG

According to reports from the Central News Agency and the Mirror News, two senior-year male students at a private high school in Taichung used AI Deepfake (deepfake) technology to synthesize inappropriate photos of underage female students from the same school and used the messaging app Telegram to set up group chats with thousands of members to spread the images. There were 20 victims in total, and the case was uncovered in mid-March.

An anonymous whistleblower alleged that, in order to protect the school’s reputation, the school covered up the incident. The school arranged for the two male students involved to switch to online classes; among them, one male student had already been admitted to university through the Stars Program. The whistleblower also pointed out that a homeroom instructor allegedly demanded confidentiality to avoid “secondary harm,” which has raised public questions about the school’s attitude and prompted calls for the universities that admitted the students involved to carefully assess their qualifications.

The school has initiated a gender equity investigation; police have referred the case to prosecutors

In response to the case, the Education Bureau of Taichung City told the media that after the private high school learned of the incident, it had already initiated, in accordance with the law, a gender equality investigation process.

The school also completed the required campus safety reporting and transferred the case to the school’s Gender Equality Education Committee. At present, the committee has decided to launch an investigation. However, due to confidentiality principles, it did not publicly disclose case details.

Police in the jurisdiction said the case has been referred to prosecutors for investigation, pending further investigation and clarification.

From the “Xiao Yu” incident to South Korea’s “N Room,” Deepfake crime targets skew younger

As generative AI and Deepfake technology continue to evolve, more cases have emerged in which bad actors use them to produce sexual exploitation images.

For example, between 2020 and 2021, Taiwanese influencer Zhu Yuchen (“Xiao Yu”) misused Deepfake technology to synthesize sexual images of female public figures for profit. In 2024 as well, South Korea also saw a surge of illegal Deepfake pornography, with victims including underage girls and members of well-known girl groups, and related crimes spreading across schools.

At the time, South Korean official data further showed that 75% of the offenders caught were in the 10 to 19 age range, while another survey indicated that of the Deepfake victims this year to date, 37% are minors.

• **Related report:**TWICE was also a victim! South Korea’s deepfake sexual content craze sparks the “N Room 2.0,” and Telegram is under investigation again

Now, it has emerged that students at a private high school in Taiwan may be involved in a similar case, again showing that age groups targeted in Deepfake sexual exploitation crimes skew younger. How to prevent such crimes while also strengthening sexual education for adolescents and legal concepts has become a major issue.