Britain’s f irst ever ‘deep fake’ fraud cons power chief out of £200,000
Boss’s voice duplicated in chilling echo of BBC thriller The Capture
A BRITISH energy executive was tricked into paying more than £200,000 to cyber scammers who used artificial intelligence to fake his boss’s voice.
In what is thought to be the first case of its kind, hoaxers used so-called ‘deep fake’ computer technology to defraud the multibillion-pound energy firm.
In a chilling echo of BBC drama The Capture, the UK manager of the unnamed firm was duped into transferring the money after a phone call that appeared to come from his boss at the German parent company.
The fraudsters were able to use technology that imitated the German boss’s accent and speaking style so convincingly that the manager had no reason to suspect his request for the transfer.
Security experts warned last night the case showed that fraudsters had reached ‘the final frontier of fakery’, with no limit to the extent that people could be defrauded.
Highly sophisticated deep fake software that mimics voices or manipulates video clips has grown in recent years amid advances in artificial technology, according to security experts.
In The Capture, starring Holliday Grainger and Callum Turner, CCTV footage is doctored using advanced software to frame a soldier for the murder of his barrister.
And experts warn it will soon be impossible to distinguish between real and fake audio and video. The worrying potential of the technology was illustrated earlier this year when US President Donald Trump shared a doctored video on Twitter that appeared to show Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat speaker of the House of Representatives, stumbling over her words.
In what is thought to be the first time deep fake technology has been used to defraud a company, the UK executive was told to make the bank transfer to a Hungarian bank account immediately because it was an urgent payment.
The manager was told the money would be replaced by transfer the following day but grew suspicious when the repayment did not arrive. His unease was fuelled even further when a second phone call from his boss, known as Johannes, came from an Austrian rather than a German phone number, again requesting a transfer of funds.
And when he received a third phone call while he was on a call to the real Johannes, the manager’s suspicions were confirmed.
‘As soon as I spoke to the real Johannes, it became obvious that he knew nothing about the calls and emails I had received,’ the UK manager said. ‘While I was talking to Johannes on my office phone, my mobile rang with a call from “Johannes”, which I ignored.
‘Less than a minute after finishing the call with Johannes, the fake Johannes rang again. His voice was identical but as soon as I asked who was calling, the line went dead.’
Insurer Euler Hermes, which paid out over the scam, said the criminals had not been identified.
Philipp Amann, head of strategy at the Cybercrime Centre at European police agency Europol, warned that similar attempts at fraud may have already been made but gone undetected.
Professor Anthony Glees, director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, added: ‘This is a real and present menace.
‘What is particularly disturbing is t hat we have l ong t hought voices to be very distinctive. But this deep fake technology shows that even voices can be faked.
‘If that is the case, the sky is the limit to the extent that people can be defrauded. We have reached the final frontier of fakery and at the moment the fraudsters have got there first. We need to catch up with them.’
Rafe Pilling, senior researcher with cybersecurity firm Secureworks, said: ‘ Deep fake is certainly another tool that can be added to the criminal arsenal and businesses should design security systems that recognise this threat and counter it.’
‘This is a very real and present menace’