The mayor of Berlin spent half an hour talking via video link with fake Vitali Klitschko. Looks like Deep Fake is involved here
Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey spent 30 minutes talking via video link with fake Vitali Klitschko.
How it was?
According to the Berlin authorities, the conversation was requested by the Ukrainian side. The date was agreed through the protocol department of the Chancellery of the Senate in early June. Through what channels this happened is still unknown.
At 5:00 pm on Friday, Giffay and the fake mayor of Kyiv phoned via video link. At first, nothing aroused suspicion, but after half an hour the mayor of Berlin became suspicious and interrupted the conversation. The fact is that the fake Klitschko asked strange questions: he asked about caring for Ukrainian refugees, allegedly receiving social assistance by fraudulent means, and asked for the cooperation of local authorities so that Ukrainian men would leave for Ukraine to fight.
The photo obtained by Tagesspiegel shows a man who really looks like the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko. It looks like the scammers used Deep Fake, an artificial intelligence technology that is used to connect and overlay existing images and videos with the original images or videos.
As the real Klitschko said, his "double" also called the mayor of Madrid.
“Yesterday, allegedly on my behalf, the mayors of several European capitals from a false postal address sent out requests for communication via ZOOM. Since our friends respond promptly and support us, the mayors of Berlin and Madrid agreed to talk. And with the help of DeepFake technology, an attacker spoke to them, posing as Klitschko.
Source: Tagesspiegel, Vitaliy Klitschko