Imagine your phone ringing in the middle of the night. On the other end, you hear your son’s or daughter’s voice, crying and panicked, telling you they’ve just been in a serious car accident. “Dad, my phone’s broken and this is a friend’s number… Please, help me, I need money right now.” Sounds familiar? Indeed, the “relative in distress” scam is an old classic, but this time, there’s a chilling twist: the voice sounds exactly like your child’s. Same tone, same inflections, same pauses.
It’s them, you’re sure of it. Or are you?
Welcome to the era of deepfakes. If the term doesn’t ring a bell, it’s time to get familiar with the next evolution of cybercrime. Thanks to the power of Artificial Intelligence, fraudsters can now clone voices with impressive accuracy — but that’s not all: they’re also able to create fake videos in which public figures (or even people we know) appear to say anything. And unfortunately, these methods are making their scams increasingly harder to detect.
The leap from phishing to “enhanced phishing”
Some might think: “I’ve seen phishing emails before, I know how to spot them.” Perhaps you were used to catching the spelling mistakes, awkward syntax, or broken Italian that gave the scam away. But today, AI can generate perfectly written texts and messages tailored specifically to you, using information gathered from your social media profiles. The result? Criminals send emails or messages that mirror your style and expressions — and they might even follow up with a phone call in which you hear the “voice” of a colleague. The shift from suspicion to falling into the trap can happen in just a few seconds.
Cloned voices, cloned faces, fake identities
Alongside phishing 2.0, we’re also witnessing the creation of digital identities that appear completely authentic. You might come across the LinkedIn profile of a brilliant professional, featuring flawless photos (but generated by AI) and a résumé that seems entirely plausible. Or you might see a video on TikTok in which, seemingly, a celebrity recommends a certain investment. But what if it’s all fake? What if it’s a non-existent person or a reproduction of an unsuspecting public figure, digitally reconstructed using deepfake technology?
We’re not just talking about “fakes” on the Internet. There are even phone calls made to companies where the “CEO” urgently requests a wire transfer for a top-secret project — and the employee falls for it because the voice sounds exactly like their superior’s. In these cases, the damage goes far beyond financial loss: it’s a true shock to trust and reputation.
The Case of the Fake Online Store “Tagliabue Moda”
A recent and concrete example of digital fraud is the fake e-commerce site “Tagliabue Moda”, reported by the newspaper La Stampa. The website mimicked a well-known fashion brand, offering discounted clothing and attracting numerous customers. After completing their payment, buyers received confirmation emails and order updates, but the goods never arrived. Behind the scam was a sophisticated system that faithfully replicated the look and communication style of the legitimate online store, using advanced content cloning techniques and fake customer support powered by chatbots and AI-generated responses. This case shows how the blend of advanced technology and social engineering is making scams increasingly convincing and harder to detect.
Why It Works So Well
The secret to its effectiveness lies in the combination of high technology and low emotional detachment: if you hear the voice of a loved one asking for help, it’s easy to set rationality aside. If you receive an email from your manager written in a convincing tone — perhaps even referencing a project you actually discussed a few days earlier — it triggers those “confirmations” that prompt you to act quickly, without further checks. The criminals’ goal, in fact, is to exploit emotional and time pressure: “I need it right away, we don’t have time to talk it over!”
Real-World Risks
- Family Scams: The Grandchild in Trouble, the Sick Relative, the Friend Abroad Who Lost Everything Today, these stories become even more convincing thanks to cloned voices.
- Corporate Frauds: Fake Transfers Ordered by Cloned Executives, or Promotional Videos Where the CEO Appears to Endorse Certain Software
- E-commerce Scams: Fake Websites, Like the Case of the Fraudulent Online Store “Tagliabue Moda”, That Imitate Trusted Platforms to Steal Money from Unwitting Buyers
- Reputation Attacks: It’s not difficult to create a deepfake video of a public figure “confessing” something compromising. The consequences, in terms of image and trust, can be devastating.
If this all sounds unsettling, that’s because it is. But there’s no need to be paralyzed by fear. As we’ll explore in the next post, effective countermeasures do exist, and specialized support can make a real difference in protecting both you and your company.
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