US charges three men with stealing about 129 million dollars by impersonating executives with AI

The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has charged three men with wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft over a scheme in which, according to the indictment, they used artificial intelligence to pose as executives and lawyers and steal about 129 million dollars, according to the Associated Press and The Guardian. These are accusations: they have not been tried.

According to the indictment as reported by AP, they sent accounting departments emails appearing to come from the chief executive, then set up phone or video calls in which they imitated the executive's voice and, sometimes, image with AI. They then referred the employee to a supposed lawyer at a major law firm, who ordered the transfers. The money was converted into cryptocurrency, according to the indictment.

The victims include a hospital system in Missouri, with almost 5 million dollars; another in California, with about 3 million; and a Rhode Island bank, with about 2.7 million, according to The Guardian, citing the prosecutors' statement.

Two of the accused were arrested in Spain over the summer and the third in the United Kingdom in September, according to The Guardian. AP places the arrests between June and September and notes that, on the evening of Thursday, November 5, the case was still listed as sealed in the court record.