Man scammed out of Rs. 40000 via AI-based video call on WhatsApp; know how to catch deep fakes

On July 16, Artificial Intelligence-based, deep fake technology, tools were utilized in WhatsApp video calls, defrauding a man of Rs. 40000.

A man was cheated of ₹40,000 over an AI-based video call on WhatsApp. (Pixabay)

Yet another online scam was reported in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala and this one was quite novel in its scope and implementation. A man was cheated of Rs. 40000 through an AI-based video call. The victim got a video call from an unidentified number and the caller acted as a former colleague. The reason why the victim was duped was because the cybercriminals used Artificial intelligence tools to successfully impersonate someone the man knew. The scam was carried out through WhatsApp video calling.

During the investigation, Kerala's cyber wing traced the money trail and contacted the specific bank to block the amount after receiving the scam information on Friday.

The victim, named Radhakrishnan, received a WhatsApp video call from what sounded like his former colleague in Andhra Pradesh. According to Cyber Wing SP, Hari Sankar, "The scammers used an AI-based video interface to impersonate his friend and sought money." Radhakrishnan saw his former colleague in the video call.

However, he became suspicious when they called him again asking for more money. Finally, to confirm and clear his doubts, Radhakrishnan actually called his colleagues on his real number to confirm and he found out that he was being scammed.

How AI-based video interface is used to impersonate someone?

The term is famously known as audio or video “deep fake technology”. With the help of artificial intelligence-based tools, the trickster generates synthetic audio, video, images, and virtual personas. These crimes were used to impersonate celebrities and generate fake news and statements but now these cyber crooks have got a new way to trick normal people out of their money.

AI-based impersonation risk has grown over the past years and now cyber criminals have got new ways to scam the general public. There is also the potential to fool traditional systems of identifying verification by training machine learning algorithms to mimic human characteristics, such as voice, face, and handwriting.

A wide range of AI tools are now being used to impersonate people for malicious purposes, such as scamming, spreading false information, and stealing identities.

How to identify AI-based impersonation risk?

Kerala Cyber Wing informed the public about scammers using AI-based tools which can impersonate any person in terms of face and voice. To identify such scams, you'll actually see a blurred background and basic facial movements of the chin, eyes, and lip movement. This is generally not normal for any living person to do.

They also urged the public to contact the Kerala Cyber Help Line number '1930' in case of any such phone calls.