Three men concocted an elaborate, yearslong scheme that defrauded companies of at least $129 million by using AI to impersonate executives and lawyers, tricking targeted victims into transferring large payments to criminal-controlled accounts, the Justice Department said Thursday.Jacob Soall, Sharon Hazan and Guy Sheetrit allegedly used AI to impersonate the voices and images of chief executive officers at companies and lawyers at major international law firms. The trio are accused of targeting thousands of victims between July 2024 and February 2026, according to court records.Victims include a U.K.-based financial tech company that lost almost $11.6 million, a Florida-based pet food company that lost $5.2 million, a Missouri-based hospital system that lost $4.8 million, a Massachusetts-based mutual fund company that lost $4.6 million, a California-based hospital system that lost nearly $3 million, a New York-based investment company duped out of $2.8 million, and a Rhode Island-based bank that transferred nearly $2.7 million.The trio’s scheme typically started by targeting accounting staff, pretending to be the CEO, and requesting help on a financial transaction, officials said. Using AI to create deepfakes pretending to be CEOs, the crew allegedly directed employees to contact attorneys who they would also impersonate to trick the employee into thinking the financial transaction was legitimate.Prosecutors said the men and their co-conspirators identified and targeted employees who had sufficient authority to authorize large wire transfers. The scheme typically began with an email from an e-signature company, wherein the impersonated CEO claimed they were working on a “confidential financial transaction” that required the victim employee to sign a non-disclosure agreement before contacting the purported attorney at a victim law firm, according to an unsealed indictment.Soall, Hazan, Sheetrit and their co-conspirators allegedly impersonated attorneys at some of the 50 largest law firms globally. “Super intelligence technology offers tremendous potential, but the public should recognize that there are some who seek to use this emerging technology to pursue criminal goals,” Jamie McDonald, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement. Prosecutors said the wire transfers were sent to bank accounts controlled by co-conspirators around the world, including the United States, Spain, Portugal, Greece, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Austria, Slovakia and China. The crew allegedly converted the funds to cryptocurrency and distributed the illicit proceeds amongst themselves and their co-conspirators.Soall, a 41-year-old from Marbella, Spain, was arrested in Spain on June 17. He allegedly primarily impersonated attorneys from the United Kingdom, reading from a handwritten script designed to dupe targeted victims.Hazan, a 54-year-old from Israel, was arrested in Spain on Aug. 5. He allegedly boasted that he had been laundering money since 1994, including more than $400 million in the past three years, and was previously convicted in the Southern District of New York of conspiracy to commit bank fraud in 2008.Sheetrit, a 42-year-old from Israel and the United Arab Emirates, was arrested in the United Kingdom on Sept. 7 and allegedly laundered funds from the scheme.The trio are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, money laundering conspiracy and two counts of money laundering. The seven counts carry a maximum sentence of 104 years in prison.“The alleged scheme orchestrated by Soall, Hazan, and Sheetrit demonstrates how the use of advanced technology can be exploited to commit large scale fraud,” James C. Barnacle Jr., assistant director in charge of the FBI New York field office, said in a statement.“As criminals continue to weaponize emerging technologies, the FBI remains committed to rapidly adapting our capabilities to identify, investigate, and disrupt those who seek to harm New Yorkers and businesses operating in our communities.”The post Authorities accuse trio of using AI deepfakes to defraud $129M from businesses appeared first on CyberScoop.