FBI warns AI deepfakes impersonate gov officials in recovery scams
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center issued an updated public service announcement warning that scammers are impersonating FBI and IC3 personnel to re-victimize past fraud victims. According to the PSA, the scammers use AI-generated deepfake videos of FBI personnel on social media to promote spoofed IC3 websites that harvest names, phone numbers, email addresses, scam types, and estimated losses. The advisory states IC3 maintains no social media presence and will never directly communicate with individuals via phone, email, social media, or online chat.
ASSESSMENT
The FBI describes "recovery" or "double-dip" schemes as frauds that re-target people who have already lost money, with actors posing as law enforcement, banks, or cybersecurity firms and promising to retrieve the funds. These scams result in additional losses to impersonation scams, which fall heaviest on older adults (and other vulnerable populations). The FBI has warned that AI-generated video and audio of real officials have become more challenging to identify.
TAKEAWAYS
Families should discuss how anyone in the household and staff would confirm that contact claiming to come from a government agency is genuine.
Family offices should examine past fraud losses as a potential marker for follow-on targeting.
Families and staff should discuss implementing family "code words" and training on synthetic audio and video.
