Binance executive says scammers created deepfake ‘hologram’ of him to trick crypto developers

euronews.com:

Scammers often impersonate companies or executives through fake emails and social media profiles. Now fraudsters have reportedly taken things to the next level by creating a “deepfake” of an executive at Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency platform.

Patrick Hillmann, the chief communications officer at Binance, claims that a “sophisticated hacking team” used video footage of his past TV appearances and digitally altered it to make an “AI hologram” of him and trick people into meetings.

In a company blog post, Hillman warned users to be vigilant following the incidents.

“Other than the 15 pounds that I gained during COVID being noticeably absent, this deep fake was refined enough to fool several highly intelligent crypto community members,” he wrote.

Hillman said that he was alerted to the situation after receiving a number of messages online thanking him for meetings which he had never attended.

The scam, he said, centred on tricking project teams into believing a Binance official was meeting with them regarding opportunities to have their tokens listed on the Binance platform - a potentially lucrative step for crypto projects.

Despite the wealth of security experts and systems he highlighted at Binance, Hillman insisted users must form the first line of defence against scammers.

They can do this by being vigilant, using the Binance Verify tool, and reporting anything suspicious to Binance support, he wrote.

“I was not prepared for the onslaught of cyberattacks, phishing attacks, and scams that regularly target the crypto community.

“Now I understand why Binance goes to the lengths it does,” he added.

The only evidence Hillman posted of the situation was a screenshot of a chat with a person asking him to confirm a Zoom