A deepfake video of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was created using AI to scam victims of the exchange's collapse by promising cryptocurrency giveaways in exchange for initial deposits.
Following FTX's bankruptcy and collapse that left creditors owed more than $3 billion, scammers created a deepfake video using machine learning and AI techniques to generate convincing visual and audio content of former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. The deepfake showed Bankman-Fried claiming that FTX had prepared a cryptocurrency giveaway where users could 'double their cryptocurrency' by visiting a specific website. The fraudulent video was posted by a verified Twitter account, though the account was later suspended. The scam directed victims to send cryptocurrency to an Ethereum wallet, which had accrued 0.89 ETH (approximately $1,006) at the time of reporting. The incident highlights vulnerabilities in social media verification systems under Elon Musk's ownership. The relatively low amount obtained suggests greater public awareness of such scams compared to previous incidents, such as the Twitter hack by Joseph James O'Connor that netted over $100,000 by compromising accounts of high-profile figures including Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
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