Source: Cointelegraph
Original: (FBI Warning: Deepfake Technology-Assisted AI Scammers Target U.S. Government Officials)
Deepfake technology-assisted hackers are now conducting a latest shameless phishing campaign targeting U.S. federal and state officials by impersonating senior U.S. officials in an attempt to steal sensitive data.
According to a warning from the FBI on May 15, these bad actors have been active since April, using deepfake voice messages and text messages to impersonate senior government officials and establish trust with victims.
The agency stated: "If you receive a message claiming to be from a senior U.S. official, do not assume it is real."
The FBI also noted that if the accounts of U.S. officials are compromised, the scams could become even more severe, as hackers could then "exploit the trusted contact information they obtained to target other government officials or their associates and contacts."
As part of these scams, the FBI stated that hackers attempt to access victims' accounts through malicious links and redirect them to platforms or websites controlled by the hackers to steal sensitive data such as passwords.
The agency added: "Contact information obtained through social engineering may also be used to impersonate contacts to obtain information or funds."
In another unrelated deepfake scam, Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of the blockchain platform Polygon, issued a warning in a post on X on May 13, stating that bad actors are also using deepfake technology to impersonate him.
Nailwal stated that this "attack method is frightening" and made him somewhat uneasy, as several people "called me on Telegram asking if I was having a Zoom call with them and if I asked them to install a script."
According to Nailwal, as part of the scam, bad actors hacked the Telegram account of Polygon's venture capital lead Shreyansh and contacted people to request joining a Zoom call that included deepfake videos of Nailwal, Shreyansh, and a third person.
Nailwal said: "The audio is disabled, and since your voice doesn’t work, the scammer will ask you to install some SDK, and if you install it, it’s over."
He also mentioned: "Another problem is that there is no way to report this to Telegram and get their attention. I understand they can't handle all these service requests, but there should be a way to perhaps name a specific account through some social means."
At least one user replied in the comments that scammers had also targeted them, while Web3 veteran Dovey Wan mentioned that she had also been deepfaked in a similar scam.
Nailwal suggested that the best way to avoid being deceived by such scams is to never install anything during online interactions initiated by others and to reserve a separate device specifically for accessing cryptocurrency wallets.
Meanwhile, the FBI advises verifying the identity of anyone who contacts you, checking all sender addresses for errors or inconsistencies, and looking for distorted hands, feet, or unrealistic facial features in all images and videos.
At the same time, the agency also advised never to share sensitive information with people you have never met, not to click on links from strangers, and to set up two-factor or multi-factor authentication.
Related: Report states that Tether's USDT blacklist enforcement delay allowed $78 million in suspicious funds to evade freezing.