Deepfaked Voice Enabled $35 Million Bank Heist in 2020

[China]

Deepfaked Voice Enabled $35 Million Bank Heist in 2020

 

An investigation into the defrauding of $35 million USD from a bank in the United Arab Emirates in January of 2020 has found that deepfake voice technology was used to imitate a company director known to a bank branch manager, who then authorized the transactions.

 

The crime took place on January 15th of last year, and is outlined in a request (PDF) by UAE to American state authorities for aid in tracking down a portion of the siphoned funds that were sent to the United States.

 

The request states that the branch manager of an unnamed victim bank in UAE received a phone call from a familiar voice, which, together with accompanying emails from a lawyer named Martin Zelner, convinced the manager to disburse the funds, which were apparently intended for the acquisition of a company.

 

The request states:

 

Quote

‘According to Emirati authorities, on January 15, 2020, the Victim Company’s branch manager received a phone call that claimed to be from the company headquarters. The caller sounded like the Director of the company, so the branch manager believed the call was legitimate.

 

‘The branch manager also received several emails that he believed were from the Director that were related to the phone call. The caller told the branch manager by phone and email that the Victim Company was about to acquire another company, and that a lawyer named Martin Zelner (Zelner) had been authorized to coordinate procedures for the acquisition.’

 

The branch manager then received the emails from Zelner, together with a letter of authorization from the (supposed) Director, whose voice was familiar to the victim.

 

Emirati investigators then established that deepfake voice cloning technology had been used to imitate the company director’s voice:

 

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[Destino]

It’s just not as fun without the guns and masks is it?