Some victims of online scammers describe a serious and growing form of fraud: criminals stealing people’s names and photos to create fake Facebook accounts. Using AI-generated or AI-manipulated images and voices, they say, has given scammers new tools and made it easier to deceive people.
Several victims are urging citizens not to fall for these schemes, warning that AI tools used to manipulate images, voices and videos have made deception far easier to pull off.
Ahmad (pseudonym) says a scammer created a fake account posing as his uncle and used it to extort money from his aunt. His uncle lives in Switzerland; his aunt lives in Iran.
According to Ahmad, the scammers told his aunt that her brother had been arrested by Swiss police and faced deportation to Afghanistan, and that she needed to send money urgently to resolve the situation. He says the scammers used AI to generate fake images and sent them to his aunt as proof.
Ahmad claims the scammers took roughly 300,000 Afghanis from his aunt and transferred it to a bank account in Pakistan. The money moved through money changers who, trusting his aunt because they knew her well, agreed to send the funds to the scammers.
“My aunt in Iran is now saddled with a heavy debt and doesn’t know how she’ll repay the money changers,” Ahmad says. “We’re trying to raise whatever we can to help my widowed aunt and her two daughters pay off that debt and get out of this situation.”
He adds: “We do have the details of the bank account used in Pakistan. The money was transferred there, and on the same day, the entire amount was withdrawn in two transactions in Quetta.”
The scammers also sent his aunt fake payment receipts, Ahmad says, to make it look as though the debt had been repaid.
Other social media users, including on Facebook, report a similar rise in fraud and describe becoming victims themselves. They say scammers increasingly hack accounts and then ask the account holders’ friends and relatives for money.
Omid, a Kabul resident, recalls: “A few days ago I got a message from a friend’s Facebook account saying he urgently needed a phone card worth 1,000 Afghanis, and that he’d explain later because he was dealing with a problem. At first I believed it, but then I called him on his personal number. He had no idea what I was talking about and was relieved I’d called.” Omid says his friend managed to change his Facebook password a few days later, but not before the hacked account had sent the same message to several other friends.
Shafiqa, another social media user, says AI has widened the scope of online fraud. Scammers now use cloned voices along with fake images and videos, she says, making it harder for people to tell real content from fake and easier to lure them into scams. She adds that some scammers create fake nude images or explicit videos of girls to threaten and blackmail them.
Other users say fraud on Facebook Messenger has grown to include everything from emotional manipulation and unsolicited sexual advances, online and in person, to financial scams such as cryptocurrency investment pitches and fraudulent vehicle or property deals.
Ferdows, a Facebook user, explains: “Scammers typically build trust using fake identities and information. Once they’ve gotten what they want, they delete or hide their accounts, phone numbers and other contact details. Some of these networks may be linked to organized crime operating across several countries, so people need to be wary of suspicious messages and offers.”
He stresses that scammers exploit social media, family trust and AI tools to target people who may lack the digital literacy to spot fake accounts, images and messages.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
از چهرههای جعلی تا صداهای ساختگی؛ کلاهبردارانی که از اعتماد مردم پول میگیرند
