According to CCTV News, a recent case cracked down by Huangshi, Hubei, involved a criminal gang using AI face-swapping technology to unlock and resell social media accounts for illegal profits. Victim Mr. Wang, after joining a stock trading live stream, was lured into investing and eventually faced difficulties in cashing out. The opponent's account was frozen due to suspected fraud, preventing the withdrawal of funds.
During the investigation, the police found that the involved social media accounts were unfrozen and re-logged into, suggesting the involvement of a gang assisting in unblocking. After further investigation, the Huangshi police arrested three suspects in Henan and seized a large number of electronic devices and SIM cards. Suspects Gao and Xu began selling and helping others unlock social media accounts online since late September 2023. They used AI face-swapping technology to create dynamic videos, unlocking accounts frozen by the platform, charging between 15 to 30 yuan per unlock, and successfully unlocked 2,107 accounts, reaping illegal profits of 400,000 yuan.
Experts from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's Anti-Fraud Task Force pointed out that criminals obtain victims' portraits or videos through public channels, using AI technology to mimic them, achieving a deceptive effect. AI face-swapping technology can not only animate static photos but also perform real-time face swaps during video communications, even mimicking voices.
Currently, relevant authorities are developing AI face-swapping fraud detection and warning technologies, collaborating with mobile terminal companies to introduce risk alert functions, protecting user data from leakage, and providing warning reminders with user authorization.
According to the "Internet Information Service Deep Synthesis Management Regulations," deep synthesis service providers must watermark their content, indicating that it is AI-generated or synthesized, and facilitate source tracing. Experts advise strengthening personal privacy protection, not easily providing biometric information, not sharing animated images or videos publicly, especially when dealing with requests involving money transfers, verifying through multiple means to avoid being scammed.