Scammers impersonated WPP chief executive officer Mark Read to set up a meeting with another high-profile executive in a bid to attain money and confidential information.
Fraudsters were able to usurp Read’s identity through a WhatsApp profile using his picture, bolstered by an artificial intelligence voice clone in order to push through a Microsoft Teams meeting with a senior WPP executive.
First reported by The Guardian, a voice clone was used alongside YouTube footage in the meeting, which was called under the pretext of setting up a new business, with the scammers impersonating Read in the Teams chat window.
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Ultimately the scam was not successful, with Read revealing the attempt in an email to leadership, warning other members of the holding group’s staff to remain on guard.
“We all need to be vigilant to the techniques that go beyond emails to take advantage of virtual meetings, AI and deepfakes,” he wrote.
“We have seen increasing sophistication in the cyber attacks on our colleagues, and those targeted at senior leaders in particular. Just because the account has my photo doesn’t mean it’s me.”
Confirming the attempted fraud, a WPP spokesperson added: “Thanks to the vigilance of our people, including the executive concerned, the incident was prevented.”
