Hannah was mortified when she discovered vile deepfake images of herself online – but nothing could prepare her when she uncovered who was behind them

A woman who was the target of despicable deepfake pornography was shocked to learn her perverted attacker was a close friend.

Hannah Grundy received a series of anonymous emails in February 2022 warning that several pornographic images of her had been shared on a website.

At first, the young Sydney high school science teacher wrote off the tips as a poorly executed scam, until Ms. Grundy and her partner, Kris Ventura, finally opened the link in a particularly urgent message.

It unlocked a trove of graphic and violent footage showing Ms Grundy engaging in humiliating acts – none of which she had committed, let alone in front of a camera.

They later discovered that the website had been found by a private investigator from New Zealand, who realized the danger its contents had put Ms Grundy in.

Even though the photos and videos were created with AI by superimposing Ms. Grundy’s face on top of other women, there were hundreds of people who shared their very real desire to attack her, with some even going so far as to brag that they knew where she lived.

“Knowing that there was someone so fixated on me was just terrifying,” she said ABC’s Australian Story.

As Mr Ventura browsed the website, a task Ms Grundy was unable to cope with, he realized it also contained several other images of women the couple had worked with at the University of Sydney’s Manning Bar.

Hannah Grundy (pictured) was a victim of deepfake pornography, which used AI technology to insert her face into pornographic photos and videos

Ms Grundy and her partner Kris Ventura (pictured together) were alerted to the website containing the fake pornographic images via anonymous emails from a New Zealand private investigator.

Ms. Grundy and Mr. Ventura met 13 years ago while working at the bar and have since gone on to careers as a high school science teacher and finance worker.

Their suspicions that someone they knew was behind the website was further fueled by the fact that the photos came from Ms Grundy’s private social media accounts.

After searching her friends and mutual friends of the other women on the website, the couple realized that the attacker was someone very close to them: Andrew Hayler.

“He’s been to our house, we’ve been on holiday with him, a lot of the big moments of our lives over the last 10 years have been there with him,” Mrs Grundy said.

Hayler was so close to the couple that he was one of about thirty people they wanted to invite to their wedding.

While maintaining a seemingly innocent friendship with the couple, Hayler had shared the disturbing pornography, as well as details of Ms Grundy’s full name, the suburb in which she lived, her career and social media handles.

He even shared a poll asking how his audience “destroyed” Hannah and listed various forms of sexual violence as options he could choose from.

The couple spent $20,000 compiling more than 600 screenshots, spreadsheets of social media friend lists involving Hayler, and hiring a lawyer and a computer forensics expert.

Police finally arrested Hayler in August 2022, after Ms Grundy spent six months fearing being attacked by him or a stranger who had seen the videos.

Mrs Grundy said of their former close friend Andrew Hayler: ‘He’s been to our house, we’ve been on holiday with him, a lot of the big moments of our lives over the last ten years have been there with him’ (pictured from left to right, Mr. Ventura, Mrs. Grundy and Hayler)

Officers raided Hayler’s home in the Sydney suburb of Erskineville, where they discovered USB drives containing folders full of photos of other women.

Hayler did not know that Ms. Grundy or Mr. Ventura knew about the website until his arrest.

He pleaded guilty to 28 charges of using a carriage service to offend 26 complainants.

‘I’m so very sorry. “I was living in a strange, confused fantasy, without thinking about the consequences of my actions… I guess I believed that no one would ever really see it,” Hayler told the court.

His legal team claimed his actions were fueled by an addiction to “rough sex and domination” pornography, as well as cocaine, alcohol and methamphetamine.

Ms Grundy (pictured) recalled ‘breaking down’ and finally feeling heard as a victim after the verdict was handed down

Six women stood before Hayler in court to describe how his weaponized use of deepfakes had affected their lives. One woman, Jessica Stuart, said he had “turned a whole community of predators against us.”

Judge Jane Culver sentenced Hayler to nine years in prison with a non-parole period of five and a half years.

She described his crimes as a “vivid and dangerous illustration” of how technology can be used to destroy lives.

“They have lost a sense of security, a sense of privacy… above all, they have lost a sense of themselves and their past lives,” Judge Culver said in her final remarks.

Ms Grundy recalled ‘breaking down’ and finally feeling heard as a victim after the verdict was handed down.

Yet the experience deeply scarred Ms. Grundy and continues to traumatize her as the images resurface online, despite the website being decommissioned.

“I’m always going to have to deal with that… and it’s going to be that way for the rest of my life,” she said.

Australia’s Criminal Code was amended in August to sentence anyone found guilty of creating “non-consensual deepfake sexually explicit material” to up to seven years in prison.