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He was a soldier of misfortune.
As artificial intelligence becomes more sophisticated, so do the scams utilizing it. A UK woman who fell for a “US army colonel” she met on Tinder discovered later that he was a romance scammer after he swindled her out of over $20,000 by deploying hyperrealistic AI videos.
“I’ve never been conned like this in my life,” the 60-something victim, who goes by Mary, told National Fraud Helpline while recalling this romantic false flag operation.
The lonely Brit, who had reportedly been single for 20 years, was perusing Tinder looking for Mr. Right when she stumbled across “Mike Murdy,” an alleged 61-year-old US army colonel stationed in the UK, the Mirror reported.
“He sent me a video, dressed in his uniform,” Mary told the publication. “He looked quite handsome.”
They got to talking and the duper trooper told the heartsick singleton that he’d lost his wife to cancer five years ago, and had no family or children — Murdy even sent her a so-called pic of him and his late spouse.
Convinced that soldier boy was the real deal, Mary gave the G.I. joke her address and received a box arrived, containing an ornamental gold flower and other trinkets several days later. Included was a note that read, “You’re the one I want to be with, now and forever.”
It was then that this fraudster in fatigues decided to brief her on an upcoming mission of love. Murdy, who claimed he was from Nashville, told Mary that he was on a last mission to Cuba before retirement and had a life insurance policy for him and his deceased wife that he needed her help cashing in.
In a follow-up video, Murdy said she’d have to send him money from her Halifax bank account to have a briefcase with over $766,000 delivered to her door.
These AI videos were incredibly convincing due to the lifelike images and also because they referenced the victim’s name as well as her recent online conversations with the con-mander, the National Fraud Hotline reported.
“Please trust me on this. Let’s make this happen so we can enjoy our retirement together,” Murdy said in one video, which showed him outside in a black beanie. A bank account number was provided via the messaging app Signal.
Believing his intentions were true, Mary sent the wolf in colonel’s clothing the money, after which she received a briefcase saying she’d need to wire another $12,600 to receive a six-digit access code.
When the Brit understandably hesitated, Murdy sent her another video, where he was noticeably more aggressive than in the prior clips. The frustrated colonel said that he was that “unhappy” Mary seemed more “focused on money” than on their relationship, insisting: “all I want is a happy retirement with you.”
So Mary finally capitulated and sent the dough, but grew suspicious when the code never arrived. Finally, unable to take it any longer, the flustered gal broke into the briefcase to discover that it was filled with blank sheets of paper, whereupon she realized she’d been duped.
All told she had lost around $25,000 of her savings. She found out later that Murdy’s image, voice and texts were all the product of an AI program created to fool her, putting the “stolen” in “stolen valor.”
“It’s been heartbreaking,” lamented Mary, who’s been too embarrassed to tell anyone. “It’s really scary to think the fraudsters have just created these videos.”
She is currently working with the National Fraud Helpline to help recuperate the money she lost to AI Joe.
“This scam is one of the most elaborate we have ever seen in that it involves AI as well as physical items being sent through the post,” said Martin Richardson, a senior partner at the company. “Particularly for people unaware of AI, it [is] understandable how they would fall for such a fraud.”
Meanwhile, Simon White, a managing partner of AI firm Time Machine Capital Squared which is working with the National Fraud Hotline on an anti-fraud campaign, said, “We are witnessing the beginning of an arms race to create technology that can help AI being adopted by fraudsters.”
Coincidentally, the website of the US embassy’s outposts in the UK released a PSA on cybercriminals posing as service members to swindle unsuspecting victims.
Indeed, this cybernetic stolen valor perhaps marks how the deception has evolved for the digital age.
Unfortunately, military masquerades aren’t the only way con artists are using AI.
In 2023, an Arizona mom claimed that scammers used AI to clone her daughter’s voice so they could demand a $1 million ransom from her as part of a terrifying new voice scheme.
