Romanian railway employees used ChatGPT for fraud investigation defense
Thirty-three CFR Călatori railway employees in Romania were referred to court for defrauding the company by blocking reserved train seats using student ID numbers and reselling them. During investigation interviews, at least two employees consulted ChatGPT to construct defensive responses to minimize apparent wrongdoing.
What happened
Between 2022 and 2023, 33 CFR Călători railway employees blocked sleeping car and couchette seats using national ID numbers (CNP) of students entitled to free transport, then sold the seats directly on trains. Investigators stated the money was pocketed directly without issuing tickets.
At least two of the employees questioned by investigators during the fraud probe asked ChatGPT what responses to give when interviewed by authorities to construct their defence. Stenograms from the case file show interactions between employees and ChatGPT about how to argue there was no concrete harm to society from blocking seats.
Reported impact
The prosecutor's office prepared an indictment exceeding 700 pages against the 33 employees for fraud.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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