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Seeing isn't believing: deepfake video

It's no longer just voices. AI can now fake a moving, talking face — your relative, your boss, even a celebrity — well enough to pass on a phone screen.

The pattern: a short video message or brief video call "proves" who you're talking to, then the camera "breaks" and the conversation moves to text — where the money request arrives. Companies have lost millions to video meetings where none of the "colleagues" were real; families get "video selfies" from relatives in trouble.

A video can be cloned from photos and clips anyone can find online. So the rule that protected you from voice cloning now covers video too.

What to do: treat video as no more proof than a voice. Hang up and contact the person yourself on their saved number — or use your family code word.

Threat examples

The video that "proves" it's them

(Short video clip of your nephew, slightly blurry, no sound) — followed by a text: "See, it's really me! My mic is broken. I need you to send the money today, please don't tell anyone yet."