Latest news with #BethHyland
Japan Times
19-05-2025
- Japan Times
Deep love or deepfake: Dating in the time of AI
Beth Hyland thought she had met the love of her life on Tinder. In reality, the Michigan-based administrative assistant had been manipulated by an online scam artist who posed as a French man named "Richard," used deepfake video on Skype calls and posted photos of another man to pull off his con. Deepfakes — manipulated video or audio made using artificial intelligence to look and sound real — are often difficult to detect without specialized tools. In a matter of months, Hyland, 53, had taken out loans totaling $26,000, sent Richard the money, and fallen prey to a classic case of romance baiting or pig butchering, named for the exploitative way in which scammers cultivate their victims. A projected 8 million deepfakes will be shared worldwide in 2025, up from 500,000 in 2023, says the British government. About a fifth of those will be part of romance scams, according to a January report from cyber firm McAfee. "It's like grieving a death," Hyland said. "When I saw him on video, it was the same as the pictures he had been sending me. He looked a little fuzzy, but I didn't know about deepfakes," she said. Hyland lives in Portage, about 230 kilometers west of Detroit, and had been divorced for four years when she began dating again. She matched on Tinder with a man whose profile seemed to complement hers well. Now, she says this "perfect match" was likely orchestrated. Richard said he was born in Paris but lived in Indiana and worked as a freelance project manager for a construction company that required a lot of travel, including to Qatar. Months of emotional manipulation, lies, fake photos and AI-doctored Skype calls followed. The scammer pledged his undying love but had myriad reasons to miss every potential meet-up. Weeks after they matched, Richard convinced Hyland that he needed her help to pay for a lawyer and a translator in Qatar. "I told him I was gonna take out loans and he started crying, telling me no one's ever loved him like this before," said Hyland in an online interview. But Richard kept asking for more money and when Hyland eventually told her financial adviser what was happening, he said she was most likely the victim of a romance scam. "I couldn't believe it, but I couldn't ignore it," said Hyland. She confronted Richard; he initially denied it all but then went silent when Hyland asked him to "prove her wrong" and return her money. More and more scammers are using deepfakes to look and sound real on dating apps such as Tinder. | REUTERS Police told Hyland they could not take her case further because there was no "coercion, threat or force involved," according to a letter from Portage's director of public safety. The office of public safety — which oversees both the police and fire services — did not respond to a request for comment. In an email sent to Hyland after she flagged the scammer's account to Tinder, the company said it removes users who violate their terms of service or guidelines. While Tinder said it could not share the outcome of the investigation due to privacy reasons, it said Hyland's report was "evaluated" and "actioned in accordance with our policies." A Tinder spokesperson said the company has "zero tolerance" of fraudsters and uses AI to root our potential scammers and warn its users, as well as offering fact sheets on romance scams. In March, Hyland attended a U.S. Senate committee hearing when a bill was introduced to require dating apps to remove scammers and notify users who interact with fake accounts. The senator proposing the bill said Hyland's story showed why the legislation was needed. In general, dating apps do not notify users who have communicated with a scammer once the fraudster's account has been removed or issue alerts about how to avoid being scammed, as required in the proposed new bill. The United States reported more than $4 billion in losses to pig-butchering scams in 2023, according to the FBI. Microsoft, which owns Skype, directed queries to blog posts informing users how to prevent romance scams and steps it had taken to tackle AI-generated content, such as adding watermarks to images. The company did not provide further comment. Jason Lane-Sellers, a director of fraud and identity at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, said only 7% of scams are reported, with victims often held back by shame. Jorij Abraham, managing director of the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, a Netherlands-based organization to protect consumers, said humans won't be able to detect manipulated media for long. "In two or three years, it will be AI against AI," he said. "(Software exists) that can follow your conversation — looking at the eyes, if they're blinking — these are giveaways that something is going on that humans can't see, but software can." Lane-Sellers from LexisNexis Risk Solutions described it as an AI "arms race" between scammers and anti-fraud companies trying to protect consumers and businesses. Richard Whittle, an AI expert at Salford Business School in northern England, said he expects future deepfake detection technology to be built in by hardware makers such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft who can access users' webcams. Neither Apple nor Google responded to requests for comment on how they protect consumers against deepfakes, or on future product developments. Abraham said the real challenge was to catch the scammers, who often work in different countries to those they target. Despite her dead end, Hyland still believes it is good to report scams and help authorities crack down on scammers. And she wants scam victims to know it is not their fault. "I've learned terminology ... we don't lose (money) or give it away — it's stolen. We don't fall for scams — we're manipulated and victimised."
TimesLIVE
16-05-2025
- TimesLIVE
Tinder for a firestorm: deepfake video quality fuels romance baiting scams
Beth Hyland thought she had met the love of her life on Tinder. In reality, the Michigan-based administrative assistant had been manipulated by an online scam artist who posed as a French man named 'Richard', used deepfake video on Skype calls and posted photos of another man to pull off his con. A 'deepfake' is manipulated video or audio made using artificial intelligence (AI) to look and sound real. They are often difficult to detect without specialised tools. In a matter of months, Hyland, 53, had taken out loans totalling $26,000, sent 'Richard' the money, and fallen prey to a classic case of romance baiting. A projected 8-million deepfakes will be shared worldwide in 2025, up from 500,000 in 2023, says the British government. About a fifth of those will be part of romance scams, according to a January report from cyber firm McAfee.
New York Post
01-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
North Korea-linked gang ‘stole' billions from Americans through romance scams, online schemes
WASHINGTON — A Cambodia-based gang with ties to North Korea has 'stolen' billions of dollars from Americans through romance scams and other cyber-heists since August 2021, federal officials said Thursday in announcing a crackdown on the malign network. For years, the online marketplace Huione Group has helped North Korea and other transnational criminal gangs rip people off by sending texts or direct messages on social media platforms and sites to bilk them for fake investments or 'pig butchering.' The cons, which also take place on dating or professional networking sites, have gotten US retirees and others to invest in crypto or other virtual currencies — before eventually defrauding them. Advertisement Between August 2021 and January 2025, Huione raked in at least $4 billion in proceeds from the romance and investment racket, with affiliates helping facilitate payments (Huione Pay PLC), provide fiat currencies (Huione Crypto), and furnish an online marketplace with illicit goods and services (Haowang Guarantee). The US Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) shared the findings of its investigation into the Huione's scam network exclusively with The Post, tallying up $37 million that went toward North Korean cyber heists and another $336 million in the romance and investments grift. 4 A North Korea-linked group has 'stolen' billions of dollars from Americans through romance scams and other cyber-heists since August 2021, the feds say. AP Advertisement Now, the Treasury is taking action by proposing a federal rule to sever the Cambodian firm's access to the US financial system. 'Huione Group has established itself as the marketplace of choice for malicious cyber actors like the DPRK [North Korea] and criminal syndicates, who have stolen billions of dollars from everyday Americans,' said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a statement 'Today's proposed action will sever Huione Group's access to correspondent banking, degrading these groups' ability to launder their ill-gotten gains. Treasury remains committed to disrupting any attempt by malicious cyber actors to secure revenue from or for their criminal schemes.' Beth Hyland, 53, told The Post in a phone interview Thursday that she had been the victim of a Tinder scammer in 2024 who kept 'manipulating me and gaslighting' until she forked over $26,000 through Bitcoin ATMs. Advertisement 4 The Treasury is taking action by proposing a federal rule Thursday to sever the Cambodian firm's access to the US financial system. Google Maps 'We started chatting and hit it off right away. We were going to meet. He said he was a freelance manager for a construction company,' Hyland recalled, explaining how the Nigeria-based con artist kept claiming he was locked out of his bank accounts and was hard up on funds to pay his workers. 'We were in love,' the Portage, Mich., resident said. 'I thought he was going to move near me and we were going to get a house. … We talked about getting married.' 'I took out loans and he told me to use Bitcoin ATMs to send him the money to pay for his translator,' she went on, recalling the swindler said he was based in Fort Wayne, Ind., and trying to pay out around $10 million to his employees, a lawyer and other parties. Advertisement At one point, he also 'claimed he was headed to Qatar for the payout,' she noted. 'He gave me the email and the login for his bank account. He gave me some fake login credentials and I was able to make this transfer.' 4 'Huione Group has established itself as the marketplace of choice for malicious cyber actors … who have stolen billions of dollars from everyday Americans,' said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. AP 'He was in Nigeria the whole time, probably in some office building scamming me,' she added, saying the fraudster 'still tried to come back' and woo her after her she went so far as to consider taking money out of her retirement fund before getting set straight by a personal finance adviser. 'I couldn't believe it, because my heart was so involved,' Hyland recounted. 'And it would have been another $50,000 had I kept going.' It took just five days to transfer the thousands of dollars Hyland cashed out through loans and turned into cryptocurrency by depositing $100 bills into Bitcoin ATMs. 'After it ended, I said, 'I'm not going to let this destroy me,' she also said, sharing that she would 'live my life and advocate.' 4 Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and other lawmakers in March introduced the Romance Scam Prevention Act to require dating apps and other sites to send fraud ban notifications to users who have interacted with similar scam artists. AP 'I'm writing a book that will have all the text messages that I had — so people can see the 'love bombing,'' she teased. Advertisement 'They focus on you, they tell you how wonderful they are — all kinds of manipulation — and it feels so real.' Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and other lawmakers introduced the Romance Scam Prevention Act last month to require dating apps and other sites to send fraud ban notifications to users who have interacted with similar scam artists. Huione's designation was made under Section 311 of the PATRIOT Act, which lets FinCEN crack down on entities engaged in money laundering or terror financing. The group had lacked effective 'know your customer' and 'anti-money laundering' policies, per Treasury officials, and had failed to identify direct transfers from a North Korean scam to one of its subsidiaries.
