scam uk energy firm
AI mimics CEO voice to scam UK energy firm out of £200k
Criminals have impersonated a chief executive's voice using artificial intelligence-based software to deceive an unnamed UK-based CEO into making a fraudulent transfer of £200,000 according to a report in the WSJ. WSJ's Catherine Stupp reported that: "The CEO of a UK-based energy firm thought he was speaking on the phone with his boss, the chief executive of the firm's German parent company, who asked him to send the funds to a Hungarian supplier. The caller said the request was urgent, directing the executive to pay within an hour, according to the company's insurance firm, Euler Hermes Group SA. Euler Hermes declined to name the victim companies." Rüdiger Kirsch, a fraud expert at Euler Hermes, a subsidiary of Munich-based financial services company Allianz SE was reported as saying that the UK CEO recognised his boss' slight German accent and the melody of his voice on the phone.