DeepfakeHigh
Yahoo Boys and Scammers from Morocco Allegedly Target U.S. Widows and Vulnerable Individuals with 'Artificial Patriot' Scams
- Occurred
- Nov 21, 2024
- Published
- Sep 23, 2024
- Source
- AI Incident Database
Summary
Yahoo Boys (from Nigeria and Ghana) and scammers from Morocco are reportedly targeting U.S. widows and vulnerable individuals using AI-generated images and fake military profiles in "Artificial Patriot" scams. They have allegedly impersonated military officials such as General Matthew W. McFarlane to gain trust, sharing fabricated backstories and emotional appeals. Once trust is established, they request money through untraceable methods.
Developers
- Synthetic audio generation technology developers
- Deepfake technology developers
Deployers
- Yahoo Boys
- Scammers in West Africa
- Scammers in Nigeria
- Scammers in Ghana
- Brouteurs
- Scammers in Morocco
Harmed parties
- Widows
- National security and intelligence stakeholders
- Matthew W. McFarlane
- Impersonated American military officials
- Epistemic integrity
- Emotionally vulnerable individuals
- American widows
Classification
Category confidence: 85%
Severity confidence: 80%
Rationale: AI-generated images and fake profiles used to deceive victims financially constitute deepfake technology misuse.
Classifier: Qwen/Qwen3.5-35B-A3B-FP8