In a case the engineering firm Arup confirmed in 2024, a finance employee joined a video conference with the company’s chief financial officer and several colleagues. Every face and voice on the call was a digital clone. By the time the employee checked with head office, HK$200 million, about US$25 million, had left in 15 transfers.
That case made headlines because of its size. The technique is no longer rare. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded $20.87 billion in reported losses for 2025, the first year above $20 billion. Losses to criminals posing as government officials alone reached about $797 million, nearly double the year before.
The same tools are used to defame
A cloned voice can order a wire transfer. It can also “confess” to something its owner never said. Fabricated images, audio and video are now cheap to make and hard to disprove by eye, and they are being used against executives, professionals, students and former partners.
The law is catching up
Since May 19, 2026, the federal TAKE IT DOWN Act has required covered platforms to remove nonconsensual intimate images within 48 hours of a valid request. The Federal Trade Commission enforces that duty and takes complaints at TakeItDown.ftc.gov. Federal prosecutors have already brought criminal cases under the Act involving AI-generated material.
What to do if it happens to you
- Preserve before you report. Save the file, the web address, the account name and the date. Once a platform removes content, the evidence of who posted it becomes harder to obtain.
- Verify through a second channel. Before acting on any urgent request for money or information, call back on a number you already know. Agree a code word with family and with anyone who approves payments.
- Report it. Use the platform’s own process, and file with the FBI at ic3.gov if money was lost.
- Find the source. Removal treats the symptom. Knowing who made the content is what stops the next one and supports a claim for damages.
PMR Group International identifies the people behind anonymous online attacks and preserves the evidence for counsel. If fabricated content is circulating about you or your company, contact us in confidence.
