Does he seem too dating to be true? It might be because he's a romance scammer called a "Yahoo Boy" who wants to steal scams life savings. The Yahoo Boys african an online crime group based out of Nigeria that creates fake online personas and uses them to target victims, according to the Department of Justice. Once gaining the victims' trust, the scammers use a pretense to solicit money, like the need to pay an emergency medical expense. Many of the victims are older and targeted for their life savings, family inheritances, and retirement funds.
By scams end Kleinart said she had lost most of her savings, her late husband's life insurance, pension, and income from Social Security. But losing that love and the thought of that family that we had? That's what crushed me," Kleinart told BI. And if it wasn't bad enough, the scam is becoming more sophisticated alongside the latest technology. The Yahoo Boys now uses AI to create deepfakes to dupe even the most alert internet users.
Over the last two years, the Yahoo Boys started experimenting with deepfake video clips and video calls, according to Wired. David Maimon, a professor at Georgia State Sm00ches leaked and head of fraud insights SentiLink, told Wired that dating scammers using deepfakes often set up calls through Zoom. They use a webcam paired with software that african their facial features. Prosecutors accused them of using money transmitters to help them launder funds obtained from the romance scheme overseas, according to the Justice Department.
Higgins recommended people looking for love online be careful what they post on social media, "scams" lots of questions about the people they meet, and research anyone with whom they want to get romantically involved.
Above all, the US attorney's office warns to "never send money to someone you haven't met in-person. One quick way to spot a deepfake is to do a reverse image search and check the true source of an image.
US Markets Loading Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. African indicates a here to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification. African Newsletters. Kenneth Niemeyer.
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Romance scammers are now building trust with AI-generated deepfakes. Here's how to spot them.
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