The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs warns of a new wave of fraud using deepfakes. Attackers create fake accounts on WhatsApp and Telegram and impersonate heads of regions, mayors, and representatives of local authorities. Messages are sent from their "official" pages to citizens, and sometimes video calls are made using deepfake technologies.
To convince the victim of the authenticity of the contact, fraudsters simulate a video call with a supposedly official and refer to "poor connection" to hide the imperfection of the falsification. Then, the scammers report that there will be an "important conversation" with law enforcement agencies, and under the pretext of verification, they begin to psychologically pressure, extorting money.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs notes: this is an old scheme with a new digital face - deepfakes make the deception more convincing.
Deepfake technologies allow fraudsters to accurately fake the appearance and voice of famous people, which makes their threat particularly dangerous. Protection against such schemes includes critical thinking, verification of information, and refusal of any transfers at the request of "officials" in messengers.
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