Scammers in Messengers Use AI Voice Deepfakes to Authorize Money Transfers
Experts from FACCT have warned that since the beginning of the year, there has been a rise in the use of audio deepfakes in the “FakeBoss” scam scheme in Russia. In this scheme, scammers call victims using voice spoofing technology, pretending to be the head of an organization. According to experts, artificial intelligence is used to generate these fake voices. The risk of such attacks is especially high for small and medium-sized businesses, where many decisions are made directly with the company owner.
How the Scam Works
FACCT specialists explained to journalists that the attack is carried out as follows: criminals create a fake account of a company executive, usually on Telegram. They use the real name and photo, which are taken from the official website, social networks, or from large-scale leaks of personal data.
At the end of 2023, experts had already reported a wave of phishing attacks in Russia targeting businesses, where fraudulent emails were sent on behalf of executives or law enforcement representatives.
“In the new scheme, the scammer doesn’t send messages to the subordinate, but immediately calls through a messenger, using an audio deepfake of the executive’s voice, generated with artificial intelligence,” says Evgeny Egorov, lead specialist of the Digital Risk Protection department at FACCT.
The scammer’s goal is to “gain trust and convince the subordinate, such as the chief accountant, to make a payment to the criminals’ accounts.”
How Scammers Create Voice Deepfakes
In this scheme, scammers need a sample of the executive’s speech to train the neural network, experts explain. Hackers might record a conversation if they know the victim’s phone number, or hack a messenger account to access the user’s voice messages.
Usually, information about such incidents does not become public, making it difficult to provide exact statistics. However, FACCT estimates a 30% increase in such attacks compared to last year, emphasizing that the number will likely continue to grow as deepfake technology becomes more accessible.
Deepfake Voice Scams: A Growing Trend
The growing popularity of voice deepfakes among criminals has also been confirmed by the cybersecurity company Informzashita. They called the use of deepfakes for calls to companies “a new trend for Russia” and noted that such fakes have been used for “identification in banks or calls to citizens.”