Deepfake fraud taking place on an industrial scale, study finds
Deepfake fraud has gone “industrial”, an analysis published by AI experts has said.Tools to create tailored, even personalised, scams – leveraging, for example, deepfake videos of Swedish journalists or the president of Cyprus – are no longer niche, but inexpensive and easy to deploy at scale, said the analysis from the AI Incident Database.It catalogued more than a dozen recent examples of “impersonation for profit”, including a deepfake video of Western Australia’s premier, Robert Cook, hawking an investment scheme, and deepfake doctors promoting skin creams.These examples are part of a trend in which scammers are using widely available AI tools to perpetuate increasingly targeted heists.Last year, a finance officer at a Singaporean multinational paid out nearly $500,000 to scammers during what he believed was a video call with company leadership.
UK consumers are estimated to have lost £9.4bn to fraud in the nine months to November 2025.“Capabilities have suddenly reached that level where fake content can be produced by pretty much anybody,” said Simon Mylius, an MIT researcher who works on a project linked to the AI Incident Database.He calculates that “frauds, scams and targeted manipulation” have made up the largest proportion of incidents reported to the database in 11 of the past 12 months.He said: “It’s become very accessible to a point where there is really effectively no barrier to entry.
”“The scale is changing,” said Fred Heiding, a Harvard researcher studying AI-powered scams.“It’s becoming so cheap, almost anyone can use it now.The models are getting really good – they’re becoming much faster than most experts think.”In early January, Jason Rebholz, the chief executive of Evoke, an AI security company, posted a job offer on LinkedIn and was immediately contacted by a stranger in his network, who recommended a candidate.Within days, he was exchanging emails with someone who, on paper, appeared to be a talented engineer.
“I looked at the resume and I was like, this is actually a really good resume.And so I thought, even though there were some red flags, let me just have a conversation.”Then things became strange.The candidate’s emails went directly to spam.His resume had quirks.
But Rebholz had dealt with unusual candidates before and decided to go ahead with the interview.Then, when Rebholz took the call, the candidate’s video took nearly a minute to appear.“The background was extremely fake,” he said.“It just looked super, super fake.And it was really struggling to deal with [the area] around the edges of the individual.
Like part of his body was coming in and out … And then when I’m looking at his face, it’s just very soft around the edges,”Rebholz went through with the conversation, not wanting to face the awkwardness of asking the candidate directly if they were, in fact, an elaborate scam,Afterwards, he sent a recording of it to a contact at a deepfake detection firm, who told him that the video image of the candidate was AI-generated,He rejected the candidate,Rebholz still does not know what the scammer wanted – an engineering salary, or trade secrets.
While there have been reports of North Korean hackers trying to get jobs at Amazon, Evoke is a startup, not a massive player.“It’s like, if we’re getting targeted with this, everyone’s getting targeted with it,” said Rebholz.Heiding said the worst was ahead.Currently deepfake voice cloning technology is excellent – making it easy for scammers to impersonate, for example, a grandchild in distress over the phone.Deepfake videos, on the other hand, still have room for improvement.
This could have extreme consequences: for hiring, for elections, and for broader society.Heiding added: “That’ll be the big pain point here, the complete lack of trust in digital institutions, and institutions and material in general.”The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.If you have something to share on this subject, you can contact us confidentially using the following methods:The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories.Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs.
This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said,If you don’t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu,Select ‘Secure Messaging’,Our guide at theguardian,com/tips lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.
Dow Jones hits 50,000 milestone amid tech gains and hopes of lower interest rates
The Dow Jones industrial average crossed 50,000 for the first time, as ballooning tech valuations, robust corporate earnings and hopes of lower interest rates drive it to new highs.Leading stock markets on Wall Street came under pressure earlier this week as technology stocks fell amid scrutiny of extraordinary levels of investment into artificial intelligence.Cryptocurrencies including bitcoin have also suffered sharp falls in recent days, although they recovered some lost ground on Friday.But US equities have been rallying for months as investors largely shrugged off geopolitical tensions and grew increasingly optimistic about the economy.The Dow closed at 50,015
Amazon shares tumble as $200bn AI rollout plan worries markets – as it happened
Amazon’s shares are tumbling in early trading, though, as investors balk at its plans for an artificial intelligence spending blitz.Amazon’s shares have dropped by over 9%, a day after it announced plans to spend $200bn on artificial intelligence and robotics this year.Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy sounded bullish last night, declaring:“With such strong demand for our existing offerings and seminal opportunities like AI, chips, robotics, and low earth orbit satellites, we expect to invest about $200 billion in capital expenditures across Amazon in 2026, and anticipate strong long-term return on invested capital.”But as flagged earlier (9.59am), investors fear companies are wasting their money, given the hundreds of billions of dollars being committed to AI rollout this year
Why has Elon Musk merged his rocket company with his AI startup?
The acquisition of xAI by SpaceX is a typical Elon Musk deal: big numbers backed by big ambition.As well as extending “the light of consciousness to the stars”, as Musk described it, the transaction creates a business worth $1.25tn (£920bn) by combining Musk’s rocket company with his artificial intelligence startup. It values SpaceX at $1tn and xAI at $250bn, with a stock market flotation expected in June to time with Musk’s birthday and a planetary alignment.However, there are questions over the deal, such as whether it is good for SpaceX’s non-Musk shareholders and whether the technological premise behind it can succeed
Victims urge tougher action on deepfake abuse as new law comes into force
Victims of deepfake image abuse have called for stronger protection against AI-generated explicit images, as the law criminalising the creation of non-consensual intimate images comes into effect.Campaigners from Stop Image-Based Abuse delivered a petition to Downing Street with more than 73,000 signatures, urging the government to introduce civil routes to justice such as takedown orders for abusive imagery on platforms and devices.“Today’s a really momentous day,” said Jodie, a victim of deepfake abuse who uses a pseudonym.“We’re really pleased the government has put these amendments into law that will definitely protect more women and girls. They were hard-fought victories by campaigners, particularly the consent-based element of it,” she added
Winter Olympics 2026: first gold to Swiss, GB await helmets verdict, slopestyle and more – live
Gallery: Feast your eyes on the pick of the images thus far from Day One of the Winter Olympics …Curling mixed doubles: Britain’s Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat beat Canada before ending the United States’ unbeaten run to clinch their place in the mixed doubles curling semi-finals at the Milano Cortina Olympics today.Mouat and Dodds, who were world champions in 2021 and finished in fourth place at the Beijing Olympics in 2022, sit atop the round-robin standings after winning their first seven games in the competition. They can no longer be caught by fifth-placed Sweden, who can only win a maximum of six games.The British pair sealed a hard-fought win over Canada’s Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman in the morning session, before returning to the ice and beating Americans Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse 6-4.Sweden’s Isabella and Rasmus Wranaa clinched a massive 9-4 win over reigning Olympic and world champions Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner of Italy to boost their hopes of a top-four finish
Italy v Scotland: Six Nations 2026 rugby union updates – live
82 mins. Twelve phases with very little more ground made. This is a great effort in the conditions.81 mins. A maul from the lineout sets up a Scotland attack with the clock in the red
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