Fraud targeting pensioners: fake videos claim Social Insurance Company is recalculating pensions
A new scam targeting pensioners is spreading on social media, luring them to a fake Social Insurance Company website. The institution and police are warning of AI videos featuring ministers.
Fake AI videos lure pensioners to fraudulent insurance website
Google News SK — Crime (sk) is alerting to a new scam spreading across the Slovak internet targeting pensioners. Fraudulent videos convince them that the Social Insurance Company will be carrying out mass pension recalculations from 1 August — and that they must actively request this by logging in to a fake institutional website.
The Social Insurance Company denies these claims. "Even if the Social Insurance Company carries out mass recalculation in some cases, it does not need your personal data for this, because it already has it," explained spokesman Martin Kontúr.
Fraudsters are using artificial intelligence to produce the misleading content. Technology expert Ondrej Macko described the quality of the materials as strikingly perfect: "It is quite a real-life scene. It is artificially prepared, because it is so perfect that it jumps out at you. That is what an instructional video should look like, except that it is an instructional video provided by fraudsters."
In addition to instructions on logging into the fake website, the perpetrators are also creating deepfake videos of ministers and other well-known politicians. "Artificial intelligence opens up a completely new avenue for fraudsters, because they really can prepare a voice, but also a video so that it looks incredibly similar," said Macko.
The insurance company reminds that if it requires citizens' cooperation, it contacts them solely in writing — by registered letter or through a message in the e-box. Verification of any doubtful information is possible on its official website.
Those who have already provided their data to fraudsters should, according to Police Presidium spokesman Roman Hájek, act immediately: "First and foremost, you need to contact your bank if you provided banking details, keep the communication and any other available evidence, and contact the police. Timely reporting can be important for further action and investigation of the case."
Police stress that the basis of protection is caution — and with content created by artificial intelligence, it is true that not everything that appears on the internet can be trusted.
Source: Google News SK — Crime (sk)