Three arrested over AI scheme that cloned CEOs' voices to steal $129 million
Three people have been charged in the United States over allegations that they used artificial intelligence (AI) to impersonate chief executive officers (CEOs) and steal nearly $129 million from companies around the world. They were arrested in Europe.
The news emerged on Thursday from documents released by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Attorney's Office (USAO) for the Southern District of New York.
The accused are Israeli nationals Sharon Hazan and Guy Shitrit. Shitrit also holds citizenship of the United Arab Emirates. The third is their associate Jacob Swall, a dual citizen of Spain and the United Kingdom.
The three face multiple charges, including fraud, money laundering and identity theft.
According to the USAO, the three would pick out specific officers at various companies as targets. They would then use AI to copy those officers' voices and images. They would contact the officers and tell them their help was needed for a large, confidential financial transaction.
Members of the ring introduced themselves as CEOs. They then told the employees to contact lawyers at a large international law firm, making it appear that those lawyers were handling the transaction. The USAO said they also posed as lawyers themselves to convince the employees that the fraudulent transfer was legitimate.
A member of the ring, posing as a lawyer, would tell the employees to send large sums of money to bank accounts in other countries. Those accounts were controlled by unidentified associates in countries including Spain, Portugal, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Austria, Slovakia and China.
As soon as the employees at the affected companies sent the money, the ring members converted it into cryptocurrency. They did this to hide the source and ownership of the stolen money. They later divided the money among themselves.
The three accused are said to have taken nearly $129 million from companies in the United States and other countries around the world. That includes about $11.5 million from a financial technology company in the United Kingdom, $4.8 million from a hospital in Missouri, $5.2 million from a pet food company in Florida and $2.9 million from another hospital in California.
The three were arrested in Spain and the United Kingdom. They are now awaiting extradition to the United States.
If convicted of fraud and money laundering, each could face up to 20 years in prison for each offence. In addition, each of the two serious identity theft offences could carry a further two years in prison.
