It’s hard to believe how lucrative this crime can be: According to a press release from the United States attorney’s office for the southern district of New York, three men Jacob Soall, Sharon Hazan, and Guy Sheetrit were arrested for using AI to alter and impersonate the voices and images of executives and attorneys at various companies in order to convince employees to send over large payments.
Soall and Hazan were arrested in Spain over the summer, while Sheetrit was arrested in the United Kingdom in September. The alleged fraud took place between 2024 and 2026. With the help of AI, the men allegedly acted as a corporate executive, targeting employees of various companies and telling them they needed their help with sensitive financial transactions.
They would then instruct the employees to get in touch with lawyers at a large international law firm. The men would then impersonate a lawyer at these firms and have the employees wire a large amount of money. The men ultimately stole more than $129m from companies all over the world including in the US, according to the DoJ.
Always remember that there are three parts of AI security: security of AI, security with AI, and security from AI. This is the third.
Originally published at schneier.com
