BBCA victim of an elaborate online romance fraud has told BBC Scotland that she was completely convinced by deepfake videos used to scam her out of £17,000.
Nikki MacLeod, 77, sent gift cards and made bank and Paypal transfers believing she was sending money to a real woman she was in an online relationship with.
She said she was initially sceptical but felt reassured by video messages from the person, which she now knows were fake.
She wants to warn others about the increasing use of AI technology by scammers.
Nikki got in touch with BBC Radio Scotland’s Morning Programme during the BBC’s Scam Safe week last month.
The retired lecturer from Edinburgh said: “I am not a stupid person but she was able to convince me that she was a real person and we were going to spend our lives together.”
The 77-year-old said she was lonely after losing her parents during lockdown and the end of a long-term relationship. She started speaking to people online and met the person she knows as Alla Morgan in a chat group.
She was told this person was working on an oil rig in the North Sea and was asked to buy Steam gift cards to allow them to keep talking. These cards are typically used for buying video games. The person Nikki was chatting to told her she needed them to allow her to get an internet connection on the rig so that they could keep talking.
Nikki said she was sceptical, but was persuaded to buy several hundred pounds worth of the cards.
She repeatedly asked Alla Morgan for a live video call which was refused, or didn’t work. It was then that she started receiving recorded video messages.
“I had started to think, are you a real person?” Nikki said.
“Then she sent me a video to say ‘Hi Nikki, I am not a scammer, I am on my oil rig’, and I was totally convinced by it.
“A few weeks later she sent me another video, also on the oil rig with bad weather in the background. This was before she started asking me for all this money. “
The images and video sent to Nikki were created using AI technology.
There is no way of knowing where the image of the woman – Alla Morgan – came from.
It could have been made using the face of a real person with no connection to the scammers and no idea that their identity was used.
Nikki said documents, images and videos she was sent were enough to convince her to part with her cash.
“She (Alla Morgan) said she was going to come and visit me and asked could I pay for her vacation from the oil rig to come to Scotland,” Nikki said.
Nikki was the sent details of a company Alla supposedly worked for and contacted by someone in their HR department who asked for money to pay for a helicopter.
“She said she would pay me back, so I gave them $2,500,” Nikki said.
The scam finally came to light when Nikki was attempting to make another payment to a bank account, supposedly belonging to Alla Morgan, and her own bank informed her she was a victim of fraud.
Police Scotland confirmed they are investigating the matter.
How to spot a deepfake video scam
BBC Scotland asked Dr Lynsay Shepherd, an expert in cybersecurity and human-computer interaction at Abertay University, to take a look at the video messages Nikki was sent.
She said: “At first glance it looks legitimate, if you don’t know what to look for, but if you look at the eyes – the eye movements aren’t quite right.
“There are a number of apps out there, even something as simple as a face swap app or filters, that can do this. You can sometimes see when people are talking, when you look around the jawline, the filter kind of slips a bit.
“It is relatively straightforward to do.”
Dr Shepherd said online scammers often claim to be in a location where meeting face-to-face or even a live video call are not possible.
“Oil rigs is one of the common ones – in the military on base, a doctor overseas – and then typically they build up that relationship and then say ‘there has been an emergency, I need some money for travel’.”
Nikki said she sent around £17,000 in total to the scammers.
Her bank and PayPal have been able to get around £7,000 of that money back, but she was persuaded by the scammers to send some of the money as personal payments – through the friends and family function on PayPal. This has not been recovered.
PayPal said they do not cover personal payments under PayPal Buyer Protection.
In a statement a spokesman added said: “We’re very sorry to hear this has happened to Ms MacLeod. Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud, which includes romance scams, is a threat that has grown across the industry.”
He urged PayPal users to be wary of “unusual payment requests” and added “always question uninvited approaches in case it’s a scam.”
On their website, Steam warn of increasing reports of scammers coercing victims to purchase Steam wallet gift cards. The company said people should never give out a steam wallet gift card to a person they do not know.”
Police Scotland said an investigation is under way after the fraud was reported in October and inquiries are ongoing.
A spokeswoman added: “We would ask people to be vigilant and encourage anyone who believes they may have been victim to fraud or a scam to contact police on 101.”
Nikki told us the scammers are continuing to contact her, most recently sending her a newspaper article, claiming Alla Morgan is now in a Turkish jail and needs more money.
She wants others to learn from her experience.
“These scammers don’t have any empathy at all. It’s their job and they are very good at it,” she said.
“The documents looked real, the videos looked real, the bank looked real.
“With the introduction of artificial intelligence, every single thing can be fake.”
ADVERTISEMENT:
Hello, sobat pengemar slot! Pernah mendengar semboyan “slot gaco”? Kalau belum, bersiaplah jatuh hati sama program ini. slot gaco merupakan mesin slots yang selalu kasih win. Yup, mesin-mesin ini bisa dikatakan sebagai jagoannya buat bawa come back hasil. tapi, cemana sih caranya nemuin slot gacor yang benar? Santuy Bro, kita beri tenang aja di sini
Game terpercaya saat sekarang hanya satu di Indonesia yaitu akan menyediakan ROI tertinggi
SEGERA dengan di :
Informasi mengenai KING SLOT, Segera Daftar Bersama king selot terbaik dan terpercaya no satu di Indonesia. Boleh mendaftar melalui sini king slot serta memberikan hasil kembali yang paling tinggi saat sekarang ini hanyalah KING SLOT atau Raja slot paling gacor, gilak dan gaco saat sekarang di Indonesia melalui program return tinggi di kingselot serta pg king slot
slot demo gacor
slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun demo slot gacor
akun demo slot gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun slot demo gacor
akun slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun demo slot pragmatic
akun demo slot pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun slot demo pragmatic
akun slot demo pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun slot demo
akun slot demo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun demo slot
akun demo slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
slot demo gacor
slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun demo slot gacor
akun demo slot gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun slot demo gacor
akun slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun demo slot pragmatic
akun demo slot pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun slot demo pragmatic
akun slot demo pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun slot demo
akun slot demo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun demo slot
akun demo slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
slot demo gacor
slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun demo slot gacor
akun demo slot gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun slot demo gacor
akun slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun demo slot pragmatic
akun demo slot pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun slot demo pragmatic
akun slot demo pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun slot demo
akun slot demo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun demo slot
akun demo slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
slot demo gacor
slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun demo slot gacor
akun demo slot gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun slot demo gacor
akun slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun demo slot pragmatic
akun demo slot pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun slot demo pragmatic
akun slot demo pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun slot demo
akun slot demo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun demo slot
akun demo slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
situs slot terbaru
situs slot terbaru permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
slot terbaru
slot terbaru permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
adipatislot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama adipatislot88.org
akartoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama akartoto88.biz
allototo88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama allototo88.com
alototo88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama alototo88.com
an77 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama an77.biz
an88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama an88.net
grandhyatt88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama grandhyatt88.com
awan88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama awan88.org
banteng88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama banteng88.biz
banteng96 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama banteng96.com
bibir66 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama bibir66.com
bibir88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama bibir88.biz
bocor888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama bocor888.biz
boswin888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama boswin888.asia
canda88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama canda88.org
candatoto permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama candatoto.net
cinta888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama cinta888.biz
dalang88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama dalang88.info
dalang96 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama dalang96.org
dinojp88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama dinojp88.com
dragon22 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama dragon22.asia
eyangslot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama eyangslot88.biz
f77bet permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama f77bet.net
f88bet permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama f88bet.asia
haha88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama haha88.asia
heroslot888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama heroslot888.info
hiwin88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama hiwin88.org
hoki222 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama hoki222.biz
hot99 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama hot99.info
hotliga88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama hotliga88.com
hut88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama hut88.info
inajp88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama inajp88.net
istanaslot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama istanaslot88.biz
jawatogel88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jawatogel88.com
jayatogel88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jayatogel88.info
jengkol88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jengkol88.info
jeniustoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jeniustoto88.org
kakakslot888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kakakslot888.net
kakaslot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kakaslot88.biz
keltoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama keltoto88.com
kera33 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kera33.com
kera88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kera88.biz
keraktelor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama keraktelor.org
kuliner88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kuliner88.org
lengkatoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama lengkatoto88.com
lexitoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama lexitoto88.net
mahkotajitu88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama mahkotajitu88.com
maincuan88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama maincuan88.com
menangbet88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama menangbet88.asia
menutogel88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama menutogel88.com
merdeka88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama merdeka88.biz
merdekatoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama merdekatoto88.info
metrototo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama metrototo.biz
miegacoan permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama miegacoan.biz
ml88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama ml88.net
monas777 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama monas777.info
monas88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama monas88.biz
moris88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama moris88.org
nastartoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama nastartoto88.com
newslot888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama newslot888.biz
ngopibet88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama ngopibet88.org
omset88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama omset88.com
pajaktoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pajaktoto88.biz
pc77 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pc77.net
pc88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pc88.biz
pin88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pin88.asia
pintoto permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pintoto.info
pmg888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pmg888.biz
pohon88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pohon88.biz
pulsa77 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pulsa77.biz
pulsa88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pulsa88.biz
puma888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama puma888.info
pusakajitu88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pusakajitu88.com
qqhok88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama qqhok88.org
rapi88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama rapi88.info
rt88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama rt88.info
rupiahtoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama rupiahtoto88.asia
s88bet permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama s88bet.org
serba88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama serba88.biz
sibukslot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sibukslot88.com
sinardunia888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sinardunia888.com
sinartogel88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sinartogel88.biz
sloki888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sloki888.info
slotplay88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama slotplay88.biz
sp77 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sp77.biz
sp88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sp88.org
sparta888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sparta888.co
sukaslot888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sukaslot888.info
sule999 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sule999.net
sultanjp88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sultanjp88.com
teluk88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama teluk88.biz
teluk88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama teluk88.info
tikitoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama tikitoto88.org
togelsumo88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama togelsumo88.com
ultra77 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama ultra77.biz
userslot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama userslot88.biz
uya88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama uya88.biz
uyatoto permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama uyatoto.com
vegasslot777 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama vegasslot777.asia
vegasslot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama vegasslot88.asia
wajik88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama wajik88.asia
