Deepfake video scams targeting Vietnamese victims with AI voice and face synthesis
Scammers are reportedly using AI deepfake technology to create fake video calls impersonating family members and friends, requesting emergency money transfers from victims in Vietnam and globally. The FBI and Vietnamese authorities have warned the public about these sophisticated fraud schemes that leverage publicly shared social media content to synthesize synthetic voices and morphed faces.
What happened
According to Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications, scammers have been using AI deepfake technology to create fake video calls and voice imitations of family members and friends to deceive victims into sending money. The technique involves collecting images and videos from victims' social media accounts, then using AI to synthesize fake videos with morphed faces and cloned voices to impersonate relatives.
On 23 December 2024, a woman in Hanoi received a video call via Messenger from someone claiming to be her son, requesting transfer of over 100 million Vietnamese dong for study abroad registration fees. The woman, a bank employee with security training, did not comply with the request.
Reported impact
The FBI has warned that cybercriminals are increasingly abusing AI tools to impersonate voices and images of relatives and friends to defraud victims and extort money. In some cases, criminals use AI to perform real-time video calls impersonating relatives or officials to commit fraud.
Index analysis
Criminals collect images, videos and audio content that users publicly share on social media, then use generative AI tools to create deepfake content based on that data. Modern AI voice synthesis tools can create voice clones from short audio samples of singing, speech or conversations of any person.
Governance controls
Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications recommended that people verify information by calling relatives back using known phone numbers, avoid sending money in response to video calls or social media messages, limit sharing of personal images and videos on social media, and adjust privacy settings to restrict stranger access. The FBI advised people to avoid publicly sharing images, videos, recorded voices or recorded singing on social media, set social media accounts to private mode, and limit viewership to reduce the risk of scammers using generative AI tools on such data.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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