here’s how to protect yourself from scammers and avoid being trapped

Too good to be true? You may have already heard of scams called “catfishing”which consists of creating a fictional character to seduce a victim online and extort money from them… Today, a scam similar is being developed, and it is much more sophisticated. Unlike “catfishing”, scammers do not hide their faces: they manage to fake it thanks to “deepfakes“generated by theartificial intelligence. Enough to deceive their victims much more easily!

This scam 2.0it is that of “Yahoo Boys”. “Yahoo boys” is an expression used in Nigeria to refer to individuals, often young men, involved in activities of Internet fraud. The term originated from the use of Yahoo email accounts to conduct fraudulent activities online, such as sending phishing emails or scam messages.

What are the “Yahoo boys” doing?

Here are the current activities of the “Yahoo boys”:

• Romantic scams : They create fake profiles on dating sites to lure gullible victims into romantic relationships, ultimately convincing them to send money.
• Phishing scams : They send emails or messages that appear to come from legitimate organizations in order to steal personal information such as bank details, passwords or credit card numbers.

• Business Email Compromise (BEC) : They hack into company email accounts to trick employees into transferring money to fraudulent accounts.
• Lottery scams : They inform victims that they have won a lottery or contest and that they must pay a fee to claim their prize.
• Online Marketplace Scams : They sell non-existent goods or services online and disappear once payment is made.

“They use a webcam associated with software that modifies their facial features”

The Yahoo Boys therefore create fake identities, which they use to target victims and gain their trust. To do this, they are now using the cutting edge of technology, notably artificial intelligence, to create “deepfakes” which deceive even the most vigilant Internet users. Over the past two years, Yahoo Boys have even started creating fake video clips and fake video calls, according to Wired.

“Deepfakes” are one synthesis technique allowing to overlay images, videos or sounds on other files. You can take a photo of someone average and add their face to an image or video of someone else. David Maimon, a professor at Georgia State University and head of fraud research at SentiLink, told Wired that scammers using “deepfakes” often organize calls via Zoom. “They use a webcam associated with software that modifies their facial features”he said.

Thanks to this deception, scammers can encourage their victims to make them trust with their eyes closed. Indeed, when the messages are not convincing enough, most people still use video to verify a person’s identity. And who would think of being suspicious of a person willing to reveal their face on video? Thus, victims are often convinced that to transfer money to someone you trust, based on various fabricated scenarios. But this generally results in considerable financial losses (often thousands or even millions of euros).

How to protect yourself from “Yahoo boys” scams?

Here’s what you can do to protect yourself from deepfake scammers like Yahoo Boys:

• To spot a deepfake, do a reverse image search on Google and verify the true source of an image.
• Always verify identity people you meet online on video calls by asking them to perform unpredictable actions in real time, like writing a specific word on a piece of paper and showing it on camera.
• Be careful if someone you met online makes unusual requests of you, such as money, personal information, or other sensitive details.
• Adjust privacy settings from your social media and other platforms you use to limit the amount of publicly available personal information that can be used to create “deepfake” content.

• Use secure communication channels and encrypted and avoid sharing sensitive content over less secure channels.
• Learn about “deepfakes”in particular the latest developments in this technology, in order to better recognize potentially manipulated content.
• If you encounter a potential scam, deepfake attempt, or even any type of suspicious activity, report it to the authorities or to the platforms concerned in order to prevent further incidents from occurring.

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Rights of women and children, violence, feminism, gender, discrimination, parenthood, education, psychology, health, couple, sexuality, social networks…. Joséphine loves deciphering all the social issues that drive our world…