New ‘super realistic’ AI scam uses fake email and phone to steal account

A consultant hired by Microsoft almost fell victim to a very sophisticated scam aimed at stealing Gmail accounts. Expert Sam Mitrovic described the fraud attempt in detail on his personal blog, clearly impressed by the sophistication of cybercriminals.

The scam that attempted to steal Mitrovic’s account involved a fake Google support center calling victims shortly after a failed attempt to initiate the company’s account recovery. Although he was careful and worked with technology, he says he only really suspected the case after some tests.

Cyber ​​crimes in various elements Reminds of fake telephone switchboard scam of banking institutions calling Brazilians — whether or not they are customers of the bank in question — Alleging attempted theft or blocked purchases.

However, the goal is to get the scammers to provide you with access information or confirm login information that allows remote control of the account.

Fake Google center scam

Mitrovic says it all starts with: A legitimate email from Google reporting an account recovery attempt — something that is common in credential theft scams but requires user confirmation to proceed. Deleted the email but about 40 minutes later he received a call.

The call reportedly came from Google Australia, with an employee warning of suspicious activity on the account. The person on the other end of the line asked some access-related questions, such as whether the person had traveled or lived in certain countries, and then reported that he or she was the victim of a break-in.

Also during the call, another email arrives in the inbox: the textual content of the call supports an alleged invasion. This is probably where scammers pose as support maintenance to gain access to Gmail, asking for access data or confirmation of a new login attempt.

The consultant says there are several elements to fraud that are discussed in detail: emails are well written and organized and phone call Uses mask to simulate a call from a real Google person. When he entered the number into the search engine, he found other reports of people getting away with the same scam.

Also Mitrovic phone call “Hello?” You noticed that the question was repeated. After the lack of response, with the same intonationrevealed that it was an AI-automated conversation; He has great diction and is hardly robotic, which makes the scam even scarier. So far, Google has not made an official comment on the issue.