Singapore authorities are warning businesses of a rise in scam video calls which use deepfake AI to impersonate business bosses with the aim of duping employees into transferring funds to criminal accounts.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) says victims would receive unsolicited WhatsApp messages from scammers claiming to be executives from the company that the victims work for, inviting the employee to join a live-streamed Zoom video call.
"It is believed that digital manipulation had been used to alter the appearances of the scammers to impersonate these high-ranking executives," state the authorities. "In some cases, the video calls would also involve scammers impersonating MAS officials and/or potential 'investors'."
During the calls, victims would be instructed to transfer substantial amounts of funds from their company’s corporate bank accounts to designated bank accounts under the pretext of business payments, such as project financing or investments. Some victims were also asked to disclose personal information such as NRIC and passport details."
Victims would subsequently realise that they had been scammed when the scammers become uncontactable, or upon verifying with the actual company’s executives and legal counsel, who would confirm that they neither participated in any video calls nor authorised any fund transfers.
Businesses are being advised to establish protocols for employees to verify the authenticity of any video calls or messages, particularly those purportedly from senior executives or key stakeholders and to check for tell-tale signs that could suggest the manipulation of the audio or video through AI technology.