Don’t trust until you see the whites of their eyes … the rise of deepfake fraud

Some years ago an elderly gentleman entered the lobby of one of Britain’s biggest banks demanding to talk to someone about the £5 million he had been given by David Cameron. A senior manager at the bank took the gentleman to a consultation room, and it turned out that the man had been notified of a lottery win run by the government and, to claim it, he just needed to give his bank details. Looking at his account, the bank manager reluctantly explained that the customer had been the victim of a Nigerian 419 scam* and his account had been emptied.

A few years later, a customer received a call from their bank about a suspicious transaction. During the call, the banker said that they needed to move funds to a different account and the customer said: why would I do this? They were advised that it was to protect their account from hacking and, if they had any concerns, to hang up and call the banks fraud line back. The customer does just that. They check the telephone number and call the bank back. The advisor then explains that yes, their account has been exposed to hackers and they needed to move their funds to protect their account. The customer is reassured and moves the money. It turns out that the whole thing is a scam, and their money is lost to what we now call an Authorised Push Payment fraud.

Shortly after this, another customer goes into a bank branch and asks what has happened to David. Who is David, says the branch teller. David? the customer says, he’s my fiancé. The teller asks the customer to step into the back office and, after a while, it turns out that the customer has never met David. They’ve been talking online for a year and he is a true friend and drop dead gorgeous … but he’s not real. It is just an internet generated person who looks real but it purely run as a scam to gain trust and, eventually, money. It’s called a romance scam.

Then you are surfing around and see a trusted expert like Martin Lewis or David Kostin advising you to invest funds into crypto or stocks. Who are these people? Well, Martin Lewis is the UK’s most trusted money expert and David is a key stocks analyst at Goldman Sachs. Here is David giving an update and Martin saying it’s all BS …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV3cD9oYij4

This is the age of deepfake fraud and, years ago, we said that the great thing about the internet is no-one knows you are a dog. Today, no one knows who anyone is online and the best advice is don’t trust anyone unless you can see the whites of their eyes. That’s an old statement from the US war of independence in the 1700s at the Battle of Bunker Hill, and it is an important statement that applies to today. 250 years ago, it was all about only shoot the enemy when they were close enough to see the whites of their eyes; today, it is all about only trust the enemy when you can see the whites of their eyes.

That’s my advice anyway. You take your choices.

 

Postscript:

Fraud online is nothing new. Going way back when we talking about man-in-the-middle attacks and phishing, and it is just evolving to absorb the latest technologies of crypto and AI. The main reason for this discussion is to keep aware and on top of what is developing.

A Nigerian 419 scam, also known as an advance-fee fraud, is a type of scam where fraudsters promise victims a large sum of money in exchange for an upfront payment. The term "419" refers to the section of the Nigerian Criminal Code that deals with fraud. Victims are often approached via email or online and are told they will receive a percentage of a large sum if they help with a transfer or other transaction.

Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud occurs when a scammer deceives someone into making a bank transfer (using Faster Payments, CHAPS, or internal transfers) to a fraudulent account, believing it's a legitimate transaction. The victim is tricked into authorising the payment, making it "authorised" but ultimately leading to a fraudulent transfer.

Romance fraud is a type of online scam where criminals use fake identities to deceive individuals into forming romantic relationships, ultimately manipulating them into parting with money or personal information. Scammers build trust over time, often creating a false sense of intimacy before requesting funds or engaging in other forms of exploitation.

Deepfake fraud involves using AI-generated synthetic media, like videos and audio, to impersonate individuals and deceive others into financial or reputational harm. Scammers leverage this technology to create convincing impersonations of trusted figures, such as CEOs or bank employees, to manipulate individuals into sending money or divulging sensitive information.