Deepfakes are images, videos, or recordings that have been digitally altered and manipulated—through either legitimate sources or artificial intelligence (AI)—to impersonate a real person doing or saying something that was not actually done or said. Financial scammers use deepfakes to trick people into believing they are someone else with the intention of obtaining their personally identifiable information (SSN, passcodes, etc.) or enticing them to send funds (digital transfers, wires, gift cards, etc.) to “fix” a made-up problem, “help” someone who’s supposedly in trouble, or “invest” in a fake opportunity.
Potential targets of this growing, increasingly sophisticated threat may be approached directly (email, text, phone or video call) or indirectly, via social media or the internet. Common scams that manipulate victims into revealing private financial data include:
- Executive or celebrity impersonation comes into play when artificial senior executives request urgent wire transfers. And in cases of the rich and famous, images of superstars such as Taylor Swift have been used to either promote a product that leads to stolen information and unauthorized charges or, with Elon Musk, people have been defrauded in a money-making flimflam.
- Social engineering scams take place with videos that use cloned voices of close relatives (often a grandchild) to make believable, urgent monetary requests for bail, investments, or other emergencies.
- Customer service exploits often involve fake video chats from scammers posing as bank personnel. Even customers who may otherwise not trust unsolicited outreach tend to believe that bank representatives are legitimate if they have convincingly replicated voices and facial features.
To help spot deepfake videos, look for clues that are:
Visual: unnatural eye movements, blinking or facial expressions, frozen/glitchy/blurry edges around the eyes/mouth/face, lip-sync mismatches, unnatural lighting and shadows
Auditory: robotic or monotone voices that lack the usual inflection and emotion of a real person speaking, along with awkward, unnatural pauses
Behavioral: urgent or emotional asks (e.g., “send money now!”), refusal to switch to phone or to an in-person contact
Actions you can take to help protect yourself
Be vigilant and employ an abundance of caution to keep the criminals at bay by:
- Not trusting videos from unknown senders—especially those requesting money, login credentials, credit card or bank account information, as well as remote access to your phone or computer. Even if the person looks and sounds familiar, it could be an interactive, realistic deepfake simulation created by cybercriminals using AI. Call the person on a trusted phone number to verify before taking action. Pause and confirm every request, every time.
- Creating a safe word, phrase, or answer to a question for family members. In the event a caller doesn’t know it, it’s clearly a scam.
- Asking the caller to perform a specific action (e.g., sing, hold up today’s newspaper or blink three times, hum a tune or sing a song). If they avoid it or freeze, end the call immediately. When in doubt, hang up and disengage.
- Never sharing information or sending money in response to a single video or audio call, especially if it’s from an unknown number. Verify the person’s identity by hanging up and calling them back on a trusted number. [Note: M&T Bank employees will never call you and ask you over video to reveal your unique PIN code, or display your debit/credit card.]
- Being wary of uploading personal videos or voice recordings online, as these can be used to train deepfake models.
If you suspect a deepfake fraud, escalate and report to your local police department and consumer protection agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission (ReportFraud.ftc.gov) and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
We’re here to help. If you believe you have been a victim of fraud related to your M&T accounts, notify us immediately at 1-800-724-2440 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week).
Stay informed. Stay cautious. Stay safe.
For more information, go to www.mtb.com/scams.