Real-Time Deepfake! How Do You Protect Yourself?

I want to share something that happened to someone close to my circle not long ago.

An elderly woman is at home watching TV when her phone rings. It's an incoming WhatsApp video call. She ignores the “don't answer calls from unknown numbers” warning, or picks up by mistake. On the screen is her grandchild, crying, with a gun held to their head. The masked person holding the gun says that if she ends the call, they'll pull the trigger.

In a panic, in tears, she listens. The masked man explains how and where to transfer the money he demands. If she calls the police or anyone else, the child dies; if she doesn't send the money, the child dies. The terms are crystal clear.

The moment she hangs up, she does as told and sends the money. Just then the doorbell rings. Still in shock, she opens the door — and there stand her daughter, son-in-law and grandchild. All three, unaware of any of it, have come to visit. They give statements at the police station and learn that this is not the first time it has happened.

A similar case occurred in China: a company's CEO video-called the accounting officer and told them to transfer 10 million USD to another account — and the officer carried out the instruction.

Real-time deepfake libraries are available as open source on GitHub. If your hardware is powerful enough, you can run them easily. So the danger is real.

So how do you protect yourself?

Criminologists recommend that, to avoid falling victim to attempts like these, you agree on a passphrase pair with your loved ones — one a scammer couldn't know.

For instance, in the first case above, had such a passphrase been set in advance, the attempt would have failed. Something like “Is your asthma inhaler nearby?” If the person on screen answers it the way you agreed beforehand, it's real; if you don't hear that answer, you can tell the other side is a deepfake. Of course, you'd also need nerves of steel.

Take your precautions, and tell the people close to you. You never know when — or to whom — it'll happen.