Software company Gen Digital, as the parent company of antivirus companies Norton, Avast and Avira, reached important findings regarding the use of artificial intelligence-supported deep fake videos in the second quarter of 2024. This misuse of AI technology poses an increasingly serious threat to digital security.

In Gen Digital’s quarterly report, it was stated that the company was monitoring a fraud group called “CryptoCore”. This group produces deep fake videos using artificial intelligence technology and promotes fake crypto investments to defraud cryptocurrency holders.

Deep fake is a type of fraud that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to create content that looks realistic but is fake. The CryptoCore group takes official videos of famous people such as Elon Musk, Michael Saylor, Vitalik Buterin, and Larry Fink, replaces the voices with artificial intelligence-generated voices, or creates fraudulent content by blending official images with unofficial materials.

These fake videos are spreading across social media platforms, especially platforms like YouTube, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok. Additionally, scammers organize live broadcasts using hacked social media accounts with large followings and promote their scams in these broadcasts.

These methods increase the appearance and impact of fraud, allowing them to reach a wider audience.

Siggi Stefnisson stated that cybercriminals are now making their attacks more sophisticated and convincing by using artificial intelligence and other new technologies. Scammers have become highly skilled at committing fraud using topics that are on their target’s mind: sensitive topics such as elections, love, or financial security.

Stefnisson emphasized that this situation has made fraudsters who have adapted to technology become much more effective and dangerous, and advised consumers to be careful about such frauds and always stay informed.

Gen Digital reported that the CryptoCore group incurred a loss of $5 million in cryptocurrency in the last quarter. It was stated that especially in SpaceX’s integrated flight test, approximately 50 YouTube accounts were hacked and this cyber attack resulted in 500 unauthorized transactions. In this incident, a total theft of 1.4 million dollars was committed.

Additionally, according to Avast’s in-depth review of CryptoCore, popular crypto projects such as SpaceX, MicroStrategy, Ripple, Tesla, BlackRock and Cardano are among the most used topics by fraudsters with artificial intelligence-supported deep fakes.

The company stated that fraudsters can now use high-quality lip-syncing technology to give viewers the impression that they are watching official trailers. This may cause viewers to perceive fake videos as real and reliable content and increases the impact of fraud.

This misuse of AI technology leads to new and complex problems in the field of cybersecurity. It is important for users to be more careful and knowledgeable to protect their digital security. The rise of AI-enabled fraudulent activities requires the technology and security sectors to constantly develop innovations to deal with such threats.