Deep fakes are artificially created media that are generated using AI and used to create deceptively real fakes of reality. By using deep learning and neural networks, it is relatively easy to imitate voices, change faces and their facial expressions or generate completely new scenarios.
Deep fakes are now often generated using generative adversarial networks (GANs). In this particular case, the neural networks consist of two components: a generator and a discriminator. The generator generates fake content, while the discriminator attempts to differentiate between real and fake content. The aim is to train the generator so that it generates content that the discriminator recognizes as "real" and not fake.
The most recent victim of such a deep fake scam was Tesla CEO and Space X founder Elon Musk. In a 5-hour YouTube live stream, a fake representation of Elon Musk was misused for a crypto scam. In the supposed Tesla event, Musk advertises that Tesla is entering the crypto business. The video, in the deceptively real style of a Tesla event, shows Musk asking viewers in a continuous loop to deposit Bitcoins, Ethereum or Dogecoins via a link on a website displayed in the video during the stream. This allows viewers to take part in a competition and also double the cryptocurrency paid in.
Using AI, the fraudsters managed to adapt facial expressions, gestures and even the voice with lip movements 1:1 to the CEO's spoken words.
The video seemed absolutely genuine, even to sensitized viewers. The YouTube account that published the stream was able to reach up to 30,000 viewers. The fraudsters may have used a hacked and official YouTube account for the broadcast. The video has since been removed from the platform. The fraudsters were most likely able to steal millions in cryptocurrency.
But why did this cyber fraud work so well? Firstly, YouTube was used as the official platform. Due to the high number of viewers, the video spread virally very quickly and rose to the top of YouTube's Live Now recommendations. Secondly, Elon Musk was the protagonist of the fake: he is considered a visionary, one of the most intelligent inventors and most important people of our time. Why shouldn't Tesla also venture into the currency business and why shouldn't technology companies also invest in Bitcoins and Co. invest? The credible scenario of a Tesla event and the perfect deep fake copy of the person Elon Musk made the illusion perfect. In addition, the attackers used well-known social engineering methods by promising that the amount paid in would be doubled, which created a strong financial incentive. On a psychological level, this exploited people's greed to make high profits quickly without any particular effort. In addition, urgency was assumed in two dimensions. Firstly, the offer was only valid during the live stream, and secondly, the available cryptocurrency was capped.
