Cybercriminals have found that using artificial intelligence allows them to enhance their scams, making their deceptions more realistic and harder to detect. Recently, fake videos have surfaced impersonating internationally renowned figures, such as Lionel Messi or the CEO of a major organization.  However, these scams also occur on a smaller scale, such as targeting a school principal in the United States. ESET, a leading proactive threat detection company, reviews some of the cases where deepfakes were the main tool used in scams that resulted in millions of dollars in losses or the compromise of sensitive information.

Deepfake is an artificial intelligence-based technique for synthesizing human images to create fake content from scratch, using existing videos or even just a still image. They are designed to replicate the appearance and voice of a real person.

“With the evolution of Artificial Intelligence, these videos and audio recordings seem increasingly real. Many exploit the image of public figures or well-known entities to say something false, as part of a scam that aims to obtain money or sensitive information,” says Camilo Gutiérrez Amaya, Head of the ESET Latin America Research Lab.

ESET compiled amazing, truly real, and recent cases

Lionel Messi: The Argentine football player is one of the most recognized personalities worldwide. In this case, cybercriminals exploited his popularity to carry out a deepfake scam, promoting an app that promised suspiciously high and irresistible earnings. The app in question was called “Wildcat Dive,” and in the fake video, Messi claimed it was one of his main sources of income and that it had helped many people earn money. Through advertisements on the social network Instagram, the cybercriminals distributed snippets of a fabricated interview, which was based on a real interview the footballer had given to a well-known Argentine streaming program.

Arup: In early 2024, the architectural firm that designed the Sydney Opera House and the Etihad Stadium, Arup, made headlines when a financial employee at the company’s Hong Kong office received a video call from (allegedly) the company’s CFO. The result of the meeting was 15 transfers totaling over $25 million. The bad news is that it was actually a deepfake, so the transfers had not been approved by anyone in the company.

Ferrari: In this case, cybercriminals attempted a deepfake voice scam, impersonating Benedetto Vigna, the CEO of the automotive company. In July 2024, using voice imitation, they tried to convince the company’s finance executives to make a large money transfer. One of the employees became suspicious and asked a question that the AI ​​used in the scam could not answer correctly. Not only did this attack fail, but it prompted Ferrari to reinforce its employee training to prevent similar scams in the future.

WPP: One of the world’s largest advertising companies was also the target of a scam attempt involving a deepfake. In mid-2024, cybercriminals used a fake WhatsApp account, a voice recording, and YouTube footage of a virtual meeting to impersonate the company’s CFO, Mark Read. The malicious actors organized a meeting via Microsoft Teams, under the pretext of creating a new company, and used this as a lure to obtain money and sensitive personal data from the company. According to WPP, this attack was unsuccessful thanks to the company’s vigilance and the training its employees received to detect these scams.

School in Baltimore: Not only high-profile companies are targeted by deepfakes. In this case, a school principal was heard making racist and antisemitic comments. The incident went viral (over 2 million views) and resulted in death threats against the educator. After an investigation, local police confirmed that the audio was a fake, manipulated with AI.

Elon Musk: A cryptocurrency investment scam used Elon Musk’s image to spread ads on X and YouTube, promoting supposed investment opportunities that promised high returns on Bitcoin. The ads included a link to a fraudulent website where unsuspecting users were asked to make initial deposits to participate in the alleged investment. According to the US Federal Trade Commission, the scam, which included deepfakes, resulted in losses of over $80 million for more than 7,000 victims who believed in the supposed investment.

President Zelensky: Politics was also affected by deepfake scams. In March 2022, during the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, a fake video circulated showing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urging his troops to surrender. The president responded almost immediately with a genuine video posted on his official channels.

While deepfake scams are becoming increasingly realistic and difficult to detect, ESET shares some best practices to reduce the risk of falling victim to these types of scams

• Be wary of eye-catching advertisements that offer an opportunity for easy and unrealistic gains. Also be suspicious of those that feature well-known celebrities.
• Pay attention to the video quality: if there are visual glitches, poor synchronization, or low resolution, it is likely a deepfake.
• Use security software on all devices to help block fake websites and emails containing malicious content.
• For businesses, it is important to not authorize payments solely based on a phone call or video call. Consider using keywords or internal codes as an additional verification method.
• Continuous training is essential: being trained to recognize the warning signs of deepfakes and scams is another key practice.
• Take advantage of the tools currently available to detect deepfakes and combat misinformation.

ESET invites you to learn more about cybersecurity by visiting: https://www.welivesecurity.com/es/.

For additional useful preventative information, visit ESET’s website in Venezuela: https://www.eset.com/ve/, and follow them on social media @eset_ve. Also on Instagram (@esetla) and Facebook (ESET).

Information and images courtesy of ESET and Comstat Rowland

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Jero Freixas, content generator, comedian and actor comes to Venezuela with Bancamiga. The Argentine’s passion for football seduces and conquers fans from different parts of the world. His disruptive, fresh and innovative style was the impetus that launched the initiative to invite him to the country.

“We invited Jero to Venezuela because Bancamiga has made an effort to create a strategic alliance with the communicator, in which the main connectors of the human being are associated with the brand. Jero is a person in whom we have found the possibility of reflecting our values ​​that are associated with a national sentiment such as football and humor,” said Ariel Martínez, executive president of Bancamiga Banco Universal.

Perseverance, work, effort and dedication are the connectors that unite Bancamiga with the Argentine figure.

Jero has more than 5.5 million followers on his digital platforms and is a fan who feels and suffers like everyone else. He managed to create a marketing strategy in which he fused his love for football and emotion, a combination with which he never imagined he could fulfill his most precious desires.

Just as he dared to follow his dreams by turning his passion into a profession, leaving fear and uncertainty behind, at Bancamiga we have set goals and challenges that have allowed us to have a differentiating line in the market with our products and services. because there are no limits for dreamers and for those who work hard with discipline, perseverance, effort and commitment.

Bancamiga: Having the support and participation of Freixas will be a representative event

Freixas went viral during the 2018 World Cup in Russia, when in his social media posts he made evident his love for the Argentine national team and soccer star Lionel Messi, with whom he has also shared spaces, games and presentations.

At the same time, he has won several awards for his work, one of them is the Martín Fierro Digital Award for Best Humor Account in 2019. He also directs, together with his wife Jose de Cabo, a work called “A real couple”, a comedy that tells the challenges that a young couple faces to overcome routine, cope with the euphoria of sports and raise their children in the best way.

In one of his most recent videos, Freixas is seen with his wife talking about Venezuela, while she relates the country with “arepas”, he does it with “good football”, connecting the emotion of thousands of Venezuelans.

Having the support and participation of Freixas will be a representative event for national soccer lovers, since he represents the passion, knowledge, fun and love that every fan feels for his team.

Hasta @jerofreixas estará en Maturin para ver el Venezuela – Ecuador, la fe llegó a Argentina 🤩

🇻🇪🤝🇦🇷
Panas pic.twitter.com/IToW4B3p9I

— Peseteiro (@jpeseteiroDT) November 14, 2023

With information and image provided by Bancamiga and social networks

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Ticket prices for the game on this Sunday, September 2, between Inter Miami and Los Angeles FC (LAFC) reached historic levels in Major League Soccer (MLS), according to the online marketplace TickPick.

Tickets have an average price of $690, which is a 527 % increase compared to the average price prior to Leonel Messi’s arrival at Inter Miami, which used to be $110.

With just days to go before the showdown, the cheapest ticket to see Messi against last year’s MLS Cup champions is listed at $785, while the most expensive is closer to $2,000.

What Happens in Messi’s Absence?

When the Argentine star is not on the pitch, ticket prices drop drastically. For example, the most affordable ticket to the next LAFC game sits at $151 per seat, 80% cheaper, according to TickPick.

Brett Goldberg, CEO of TickPick, anticipates a stabilization in the market, although there is a possibility of an increase in demand.

LAFC is one of the most popular teams in MLS today, generating constant demand, Goldberg noted.

However, since Messi’s arrival in MLS, his appearances have consistently raised ticket prices.

When Messi made his regular season debut in mid-August, average prices were 1,000 % higher than usual for a New York Red Bulls game.

This phenomenon has been called “messimania” and it extends beyond the field of play.

Companies Capitalizing on Messi

Apple reports that subscriptions to its soccer streaming package have seen a significant increase since Messi’s joining Inter Miami in July. For its part, Adidas has experienced “truly unprecedented” demand for Messi’s shirt, leading to a backlog of orders through October.

Retailer Soccer.com recently revealed that the eight best-selling jerseys on its website are Messi-related, including his Argentina jersey and Inter Miami jersey.

In fact, the Inter Miami kit has become the top seller of all MLS clubs in every state in the United States except Vermont. Previously, it only led sales in Florida.

Where to Find the Cheapest Tickets?

According to a report by the CBS television network, the Sixt company, specialized in car rental, conducted an investigation that found tickets for less than $200 on StubHub, the official resale site, to watch Inter Miami matches.

According to prices on StubHub, the most affordable ticket to see Messi with Inter Miami on September 16 at Mercedes Benz Stadium sold for $153.

K. Tovar

Source: El Diario

(Reference image source: Zesan H, Unsplash)

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The news that Binance will no longer be the official sponsor of the Argentine soccer team caused surprise in the sports world. The company decided to terminate the sponsorship agreement due to what they have described as “breach of contract”.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced its decision through a message shared on the official Binance Argentina account last Monday, without offering additional details on the reasons behind this determination.

The partnership between Binance and the Argentine Football Association, which included the Selección, Argentina national professional soccer team, and La Liga, the top-flight tournament, had been enthusiastically celebrated. During the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the Binance brand was present on the jerseys of the players of the champion team, led by star Lionel Messi.

So far, the exchange has not detailed the specific breaches that led to the breach of the deal, and the Argentine Football Association has also not commented publicly on the matter.

Despite this, Binance expressed its intention to continue building relationships with local partners, including universities, and further expand educational efforts and strategic business alliances in Argentina.

K. Tovar

Source: Diariobitcoin

(Reference image source: Kanchanara, Unsplash)

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The former chairman of the Bayern Munich board of directors Karl-Heinz Rummenigge again spoke out in favor of stricter financial control in European football.

“It already exists in the form of Financial Fair Play. You just have to adapt it, use it and demand it more rigorously,” Rummenigge said.

The 65-year-old former German international, who sits on the Executive Committee of the European Union of Football Associations (UEFA) as a representative of the European Clubs Association (ECA), stressed that stricter rules are an “absolute necessity”.

According to Rummenigge, the question lies in the speed with which changes can be introduced and legally guaranteed “in a Europe whose pillars of the market economy include free competition”.

“These regulations I’m talking about are supposed to stabilize competition, not restrict it, and the issue addresses too little from that perspective,” he said.

UEFA’s Financial Fair Play stipulates in principle that clubs participating in European tournaments must not spend more than they earn. However, due to the recent transfers and multi-million dollar salaries paid by the main European clubs, criticism of the system and its effectiveness are increasingly added.

For Rummenigge, a “concrete” catalog of sanctions must be created. “You don’t have to act as crazy, but you have to change some small details.”

K. Tovar

Source: dpa

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The token of the Paris Saint-Germain football team of France saw an increase in its appraised value by 200 % compared to the previous price.

All this due to the arrival at the Parisian club of the Argentine star Lionel Messi, after the impossibility to renew his contract with FC Barcelona de España.

Now, the arrival of the Argentine has enchained madness not only in the surroundings of the airport of the capital of France, but also the local economy has been positively affected.

PSG, which launched its PSG Token in partnership with Chiliz, has seen the cryptocurrency skyrocket in the last week. Amid expectations of the creation of a super-team with Messi, the token went from $ 22 to $ 59, rising 12 % on Tuesday alone. The market value of the fan token is 74 million.

K. Tovar

Source: Ambito

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The Argentine soccer star, Lionel Messi, recently entered the nft market, joining the immense wave that this type of token has generated.

Through his social networks, Messi announced the launch of his own collection of non-fungible tokens, which will be called “Ethernity”.

“Happy to present my first official collection of #NFTs available on #Ethernity. Follow @EthernityChain and pre-register at http://ethernity.io to participate in the #Messiverse. Arte x @Bosslogic ”, indicated the Argentine on his social network.

Feliz de presentarles mi primera colección oficial de #NFTs disponibles en #Ethernity. ⚽️ Seguí a @EthernityChain y preregístrate en https://t.co/rWaa0Dd99N para participar en el #Messiverse. Arte x @Bosslogic. pic.twitter.com/wBGr4iYMP7

— Leo Messi (@Ieomessiok) August 4, 2021

The NFT are gaining more popularity every day. Multiple personalities in the world have joined this fashion that generates high incomes and fans at the same time.

K. Tovar

Source: Cointelegraph

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Agents from the Central Economic Crimes Area of ​​the Criminal Investigation Division of the Mossos d’Esquadra searched the FC Barcelona offices at the Camp Nou to obtain more information on the case known as “Barça Gate“.

On the other hand, several sources assure that Barcelona police have carried out arrests, among them the former president of the club Josep María Bartomeu.

Several agents have been at the Blaugrana club offices since early in the morning to register them and obtain information on the case.

In July 2020, the Catalan police had entered the club’s offices to carry out searches for this case, which arose with the payment of one million euros from FC Barcelona to the company ‘i3 Ventures’ in five payments of 198,000 euros for allegedly bypass the internal control of the club and monitor social networks.

The Court of Instruction number 13 of Barcelona is investigating the case, under summary secrecy, after admitting the complaint of the fan platform Dignitat Blaugrana, for an alleged crime of unfair administration and corruption in the case of social networks.

Some of the supposed accounts controlled by the company were dedicated to criticizing active players of the club, such as Leo Messi or Gerard Piqué or former presidents such as Joan Laporta, now a candidate for the presidency in the elections this Sunday, March 7, together with the also affected Víctor Font, and Toni Freixa.

K. Tovar

Source: Marca

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