AI deep fakes fuel fraud

News an employee at the global building company Arups, transferred £20m to a cybercrime gang because of a deep fake has once again highlighted the risks from the technology.

The incident involved an employee working in Hong Kong for the London based engineering and design firm who was tricked into sending the money to cyber criminals during a video call.

The criminals used video content generated by artificial intelligence to pose as senior company members and use fake images and voices to dupe the employee into transferring the funds.

The very opposite of a deep fake. An artist's impression of Wind Catching Systems' floating wind farm project that Arup is advising on. Ironically, Arup has a reputation for working on some of the world's most innovative design projects and will be no stranger to AI.

It is the latest in a series of deep fake incidents that have hit the headlines in recent years. The most celebrated outrage being the deep faking of the pop star Taylor Swift into a pornographic video. The Swift incident, at the end of January 2024, provoked an ongoing legislative response, outlawing the use of the technology to misrepresent an individual.

Radio investigation

A 21 st century crime that Future Intelligence's 'PassW0rd' radio show has investigated in its programme, ‘ Who Owns You ’. Which includes interviews with Noelle Martin , an Australian woman who was also unknowingly deep faked into a porn video and psychologist Professor Alison Attrill-Smith, author of ‘ Cyberpsychology’ and an expert on our relationship with the online world.

The very real risks deep fakes presented were first detected in early 2020, when the Hong Kong-based branch manager of a Japanese bank received a call from a man he thought was one of the directors of the parent bank.

The AI deep fake told him the company was about to make an acquisition, and he needed the branch manager to transfer £27.5 million to cover it.

He told him the Japanese bank had hired a lawyer called Martin Zelner to oversee the process, and the branch manager had been sent emails from the director and Zelner, introducing them. The emails also confirmed what money needed to be moved and where. Obediently, the manager, conned by the criminals, made the transfers.

AI deep fakes fuel crime wave

The now notorious AI generated image of Pope Francis in a white puffer jacket.

Since then, the deep fakes have come thick and fast. Future Intelligence has been told of several incidents in which deep fakes masquerading as chief finance officers have attended virtual meetings for various purposes.

A deeply disturbing trend and one that has stampeded legislators into action. A week after the Taylor Swift deep fake video emerged, US President Joe Biden, announced that the states would draw up legislation which is now making its way through Congress sponsored by both Democrat and Republican politicians amid concerns that AI deep fakes fuel fraud.

The legislation proposes criminal penalties that include a fine and up to two years in prison, and civil penalties could range up to $150,000.

Conscious the US is in an election year, state lawmakers across the country have suddenly jumped into action to deal with the issue.

In the first three weeks of 2024, as with Congress, lawmakers from both major parties have introduced legislation in over 14 states to combat AI deepfakes.

UK promises prison sentences

An AI deep fake of a burning Hawaii - to listen to the PassW0rd radio programme on deep fakes 'Who Owns You' click on the picture.

While in the UK, new legislation has been put forward to tackle "deeply violating" deepfakes. The Government announced new measures to address the abuse caused by the AI technology, mostly targetting women.

A new offence, added to the Criminal Justice Bill , currently going through Parliament, will make it illegal to create fake sexual images or video of non-consenting victims. Those sharing them could be jailed for up to six months.

Home Office minister Laura Farris said it was the first step in tackling the dangers of manipulated pictures and video and told MPs: "We recognise that the offence is overwhelmingly targeted at women, predicated in the absence of consent and as such a gateway to other types of offending."

As a result, MPs are expected to outlaw all non-consensual copying and use of a personal image.

Underlying the anti-deepfake legislation though is the deeper issue of personal data ownership , with faces and voices now beginning to be defined as personal data, an issue that was at the heart of the recent strike action by extras and scriptwriters in Los Angeles. One of the issues being raised by the strikers related to the extras' ownership of their voices and faces, an issue covered extensively on the Future Intelligence website.

https://www.mixcloud.com/FI_PassW0rd/password-who-owns-you/ PassW0rd radio

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