A new breed of cyberattack is gaining traction, blending social engineering with AI-generated deepfakes to target government workers and crypto leaders.
In recent weeks, the FBI has issued warnings about a disturbing trend: scammers posing as high-ranking U.S. officials using deepfake audio and messages to trick victims into giving up sensitive data.
The scheme has been active since April, with bad actors attempting to lure public servants into clicking malicious links or logging into fake platforms designed to steal passwords. If successful, the hackers gain access to official contact lists, amplifying the potential damage by impersonating trusted individuals in follow-up attacks.
Meanwhile, in the crypto world, industry figures are also under fire. Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal reported a chilling scam involving deepfaked video calls where he and other team members were falsely shown on screen. In reality, victims were being coerced into downloading malicious software during silent Zoom calls orchestrated by attackers who had hijacked legitimate Telegram accounts.
Nailwal expressed frustration over the lack of recourse on platforms like Telegram, where reporting mechanisms are limited. Other prominent Web3 figures, including Dovey Wan, have also confirmed being mimicked in similar scams.
As deepfake technology becomes more convincing and accessible, cybercriminals are moving beyond email phishing—now targeting their victims through highly realistic impersonation across multiple channels.
The U.S. Department of Justice has sentenced Dwayne Golden, 57, of Pennsylvania to 97 months in prison for orchestrating a fraudulent crypto investment scheme that stole over $40 million from investors.
The first half of 2025 has become the most damaging six-month period in crypto history, with over $2.1 billion stolen across 75+ separate incidents, according to new data.
A new breed of cyber-attack is sweeping through crypto media, exploiting site pop-ups and wallet-connect prompts instead of smart-contract bugs.
CoinMarketCap, one of the most widely used crypto data tracking platforms, is reportedly facing a front-end security breach, with multiple users encountering a suspicious prompt to verify their wallets.