Scammers used AI-generated images and messaging to impersonate New Zealand's Commissioner of Inland Revenue Peter Mersi in fake social media posts promoting cryptocurrency tax webinars, attempting to steal personal information and commit identity theft.
Scammers created fake social media posts impersonating New Zealand's Commissioner of Inland Revenue Peter Mersi to promote fraudulent cryptocurrency tax webinars. The tax department warned that the scammers were using AI-generated images and messaging along with incorrect versions of the Inland Revenue logo to trick people into giving out personal information for identity theft purposes. The posts did not actually show Peter Mersi but used false, likely AI-generated content to appear legitimate. When Meta was notified and took down the fraudulent ads, they reappeared the next day with slight alterations. This incident was part of a broader pattern of AI-enabled investment scams on social media platforms that contributed to New Zealanders losing $265 million to fraud in the previous year. Inland Revenue received over 3000 scam reports from the public in the three months ending February, with scammers increasing their efforts during important tax periods. The Financial Markets Authority had previously warned about similar scams using deepfake videos to impersonate celebrities and public figures for fraudulent investment schemes.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
