- Date
- March 2019 (made public in August–September 2019)
- Where
- United Kingdom and Germany
- Target
- The CEO of a UK energy firm
- Method
- Phone call in the AI-imitated voice of the parent company’s CEO
- Amount
- €220,000 (about US$243,000)
The caller was the CEO of the German parent company — or so it seemed. He asked for an urgent payment to a Hungarian supplier within the hour and said it would be reimbursed. The UK CEO recognised his boss's slight German accent and the melody of his voice, and sent the money.
The fraudsters called again, saying the reimbursement had been made, and asked for a second transfer. The reimbursement had not arrived, and the CEO refused. A third call came from an Austrian number and deepened his suspicion.
The money was moved from the Hungarian account to Mexico and elsewhere. Insurer Euler Hermes, which described the case to The Wall Street Journal, covered the full loss. According to the report, experts considered it the first cybercrime in which criminals clearly drew on AI.
