It seems that everyone has become the target of scams nowadays, even executives in the automotive industry. A scammer attempted to deceive an unnamed Ferrari executive earlier this month by digitally impersonating the automaker’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna. The scheme utilized a deepfake version of Vigna’s voice and WhatsApp messages from an unusual phone number.
The scheme’s ultimate goal was to get the executive to make a financial transaction, according to Automotive News. Over WhatsApp, the Vigna impersonator told the exec to be ready to sign a non-discourse agreement, that regulators were already aware of the pending acquisition and that the utmost discretion should be used. All the perfect ingredients for a scam were there. It was an urgent matter that required money to be sent as soon as possible, and no one else could know about it.
The executive then received a phone call from the person claiming to be Vigna. Reportedly, his southern Italian accent was completely accurate… but something was off. His cadence was mechanical in the way that software has to stitch together pre-recorded or generated words and phrases into complete sentences. The executive got suspicious and asked the scammer a question that only the real Vigna would know. Automotive News reported:
“Sorry, Benedetto, but I need to identify you,” the executive said. He posed a question: What was the title of the book Vigna had just recommended to him a few days earlier (it was “Decalogue of Complexity: Acting, Learning and Adapting in the Incessant Becoming of the World” by Alberto Felice De Toni)?
With that, the call abruptly ended. Ferrari opened an internal investigation, the people said. Representatives for the Maranello, Italy-based company declined to comment on the matter.
Unfortunately, stories of people getting deceived and losing thousands of dollars to scammers aren’t rare. The Federal Trade Commission released 200 complaints of people being conned by scammers pretending to be Elon Musk or one of the companies he leads. You wouldn’t step into a unmarked van for candy. Please don’t blindly trust strangers on the internet.