AI even imitates accent Ferrari manager exposes fake call from supposed boss
Using the fake voice of Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna, criminals attempted to deceive a manager. The employee stopped the attempted fraud with a clever question.
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- Cyber criminals tried to deceive a Ferrari manager with a supposed phone call from his boss.
- The voice of Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna was imitated using artificial intelligence.
- The employee uncovered the fraud thanks to a healthy dose of mistrust.
He needed his help, according to a WhatsApp message that a Ferrari manager received from his boss Benedetto Vigna. It was about a secret takeover with implications for business in China, which would be better discussed over the phone. The messages appeared to be genuine, and the profile picture also matched, as "Bloomberg" reports.
The manager actually received a call. The voice of Ferrari CEO Vigna could be heard - spoken by an artificial intelligence. Even Vigna's southern Italian accent was imitated deceptively realistically.
Nevertheless, the way the CEO spoke seemed strange to the manager. So he resorted to a trick: He wanted to know from the supposed boss which book he had recommended to him a few days ago. The cybercriminals did not know the answer and ended the call abruptly.
The employee's skepticism saved Ferrari from potentially losing millions. This is shown by the example of the French film and music production company Pathé: in 2018, two employees in the Netherlands thought messages from their supposed boss were genuine. The fraudsters scammed 21 million dollars in this way.
