New York: Three foreign nationals have been arrested and charged in the United States for allegedly using artificial intelligence to impersonate corporate executives and lawyers in a sophisticated fraud scheme that siphoned off more than $129 million from companies worldwide.
According to the US Department of Justice (DoJ), Jacob Soall, Sharon Hazan and Guy Sheetrit allegedly manipulated voices and images of senior executives and legal professionals to deceive employees into transferring large sums of money. The alleged operation was carried out between 2024 and 2026.
Investigators said the accused posed as company executives and contacted employees with requests for confidential financial transactions. Victims were subsequently directed to communicate with individuals posing as lawyers from reputed international law firms. These fake legal representatives then instructed employees to transfer funds into bank accounts controlled by the accused.
The alleged fraud affected several organisations, including a Missouri-based hospital system that lost nearly $5 million, a California hospital system defrauded of around $3 million and a Rhode Island bank that suffered losses of approximately $2.7 million. A Massachusetts mutual fund and a Florida-based pet food company reportedly lost more than $4.6 million and $5 million, respectively. A UK technology company was also allegedly cheated of over $11 million.
The stolen money was routed through accounts across multiple countries before being converted into cryptocurrency to conceal its origin and ownership, the DoJ said.
Soall and Hazan were arrested in Spain, while Sheetrit was detained in the UK. The accused face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy and aggravated identity theft.
US officials warned that advanced AI tools are increasingly being exploited to facilitate sophisticated financial crimes.
