Deepfakes and scams out to ruin Valentine’s Day this year 

• Valentine’s Day scams continue to be a challenge for Cupid. 
• There has been a rapid rise in love-related scams in Southeast Asia over the past few years.
• Cybercriminals often exploit Valentine’s Day through various online scams that target emotions, money and personal information.

It seems like Cupid will not be the only one busy during Valentine’s Day. Everyone knows about catfishing and scams that happen during Valentine’s Day. But what makes it more dangerous today is that these scams are becoming much harder to detect, especially with AI enabling deepfake content to mirror reality.

Every year, thousands of people end up falling for scams during various festivals and holidays. Be it Christmas, Chinese New Year or any other holiday, victims continue to fall for scams simply because the offer is just too hard to resist.

What makes scams a lot more concerning is the emotional impact it can have on some individuals. Losing money is one thing. But to be emotionally tangled in a scam can be much harder to get over with, especially when involves matters of the heart.

Cybercriminals often exploit Valentine’s Day through online scams that target emotions, money and personal information. Some of the most common scams are:

• Email scams: Cybercriminals send phishing emails that pretend to be from popular brands, online retailers, or dating platforms, offering discounts, gifts, or romantic opportunities. These emails may contain malicious links or attachments that can infect the user’s device with malware or steal their credentials.
• Imposter websites: Cybercriminals create fake websites that mimic legitimate ones, such as online flower shops, jewelry stores, or dating services. Users are asked to enter their credit card details, personal information, or login credentials, which can then be used for fraud or identity theft.
• Romance scams: Some use fake profiles or chatbots to lure lonely or vulnerable people into online relationships. They may use social engineering techniques to gain the user’s trust and affection, and then ask them to send money, gifts, or sensitive photos or videos. Some cybercriminals may also blackmail the user by threatening to expose their intimate conversations or images to their family, friends, or online.
• Greeting card scams: This has always been popular in emails. Electronic greeting cards that claim to be from a secret admirer, a friend, or a family member may contain malware or spyware. This will then compromise the user’s device or data, or redirect them to phishing websites that ask for their personal or financial information.

Valentine’s Day and the evolution of romance scams

As technology evolves, scams have too. While phishing scams are still a big problem, deepfakes are creating a whole new chapter in scams. Romance scams in particular continue to be rampant and do not just occur during Valentine’s Day. Many continue to fall victim to such tactics, especially with cybercriminals using AI to not only create deepfakes but also script romantic conversations and create voices that are able to con their victims.

As reported in the media, there has been a rapid rise in love-related scams in Southeast Asia over the past few years. It was recently reported that Indonesia had arrested 88 Chinese nationals for their involvement in a cross-border telephone and online romance scam syndicate. Whereas in Singapore, it was reported that in the first six months of 2023, around SG$25.9 million was lost through love scams.

Given the rise of romance scams, especially during Valentine’s Day, Tenable shares its views on the romance scams likely to take place in 2024, revealing the sinister ways scammers will exploit vulnerable individuals.

It’s all about exploiting victims

By incorporating a layer of generative AI and deepfaking techniques, the exploitation of vulnerable individuals has intensified through the use of original and edited videos, audio manipulations, and face-tracking webcam tools, all geared towards financial gain. This evolution includes the alarming rise of sextortion and digitally altered images, as scammers employ deepfaking to blackmail victims by threatening to expose explicit content featuring their likenesses.

As mentioned earlier, scammers are now leveraging generative AI and deepfake technologies to create more convincing personas in romance scams. Celebrity impersonations, particularly targeting older demographics, have become widespread. Online tools and tutorials make it easy for scammers to map celebrity likenesses onto their webcams, blurring the lines between reality and deception. These scams often originate on platforms like Facebook, tricking victims into a false sense of security.

Sadly, a troubling trend emerging is one where scammers routinely target older individuals, especially those who are widowed or suffer from memory loss. They initiate conversations, gauging the victim’s familiarity with technology before employing pre-recorded videos or live interactions. Notable cases include a Facebook romance scam where a deepfake Mark Ruffalo was used to swindle an elderly artist out of half a million dollars.

Protecting yourself from Cupid’s deception

As always, users need to be more vigilant today. Be it for Valentine’s Day or any other occasion, if the offer seems too good to be true, always double-check it.

What’s more, in the realm of online relationships, requests for money from newfound connections should sound immediate alarm bells. It’s crucial to scrutinize photographs and videos that deliberately conceal background details, hindering online verification.

“I strongly advocate for heightened vigilance when coerced away from established platforms into private conversations, where the protective layers of the initial site are forfeited. Regardless of the involvement of generative AI or deepfakes, the watchword is caution,” said Chris Boyd, staff research engineer at Tenable.

“While social media platforms may lack explicit guidance on romance scams, I urge users to report any suspicious activities using the available reporting tools. Awareness and vigilance are our best defenses against these heartless manipulations, ensuring that love seekers don’t fall victim to the tangled web of AI-enhanced deception,” Boyd concluded.

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