{"id":53578,"date":"2025-06-04T10:02:05","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T14:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/?p=53578"},"modified":"2025-06-04T10:41:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T14:41:53","slug":"fake-bank-payments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/fake-bank-payments\/53578\/","title":{"rendered":"You&#8217;re in for a big payout again"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Scammers just can\u2019t stop playing Santa: one day it\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/telegram-premium-scam\/52696\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">free Telegram subscriptions<\/a>; another it\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/cryptocurrency-giveaway-scam\/44346\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">cryptocurrency<\/a>. This new scam keeps things simple: they\u2019re offering money right off the bat \u2014 or, more accurately, sharing a supposedly legal way for you to cash in.<\/p>\n<p>The scammers created a two-minute video in which journ-AI-lists and a celebrity spin tall tales: <em>\u201cEveryone can get compensation. You just need to\u2026\u201d<\/em> Read on to find out what the scammers are instructing their victims to do, and about the bait they\u2019re using to lure unsuspecting folks into their trap.<\/p>\n<h2>The scammers\u2019 modus operandi<\/h2>\n<p>This campaign saw scammers create phishing websites to host the video. You won\u2019t find it on YouTube or any other video hosting site (for your safety, we won\u2019t share it here either), because this kind of AI-generated content tends to be taken down in short order. It\u2019s much harder to deal with scam websites \u2014 especially when links are distributed via email and messaging apps.<\/p>\n<p>Now for the most interesting part: the video. It looks just like a brand-new Brazilian news segment, but there\u2019s a twist. The news is completely fake \u2014 and was \u201cshot\u201d without the journalists\u2019 permission. The scammers used a real news broadcast as the base, overlaying it with AI-generated voiceover and syncing the lip movements to match the new script. In it, AI-generated clones of real journalists weigh in on \u201cviolations\u201d by one of the country\u2019s leading banks.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>\u201cClients see their balances shrink for no reason \u2014 or even get wiped out entirely\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>\u201cAccounts are being unjustly frozen\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>\u201cInterest rates on loans are being inflated\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_53584\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2025\/06\/04091432\/fake-bank-payments-01.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53584\" class=\"size-large wp-image-53584\" src=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2025\/06\/04091432\/fake-bank-payments-01-1024x578.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"578\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-53584\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Part of the fake article created by AI for this scam<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Once the stage is set, another AI clone takes over. Here, the scammers use the same approach as with the journalists: real video footage, AI-generated voiceover, and lip-syncing to match the new script. An AI-generated copy of a celebrity in Brazil delivers a fiery speech: <em>\u201cFor months on end, the bank has repeatedly violated regulations, and now we\u2019re taking decisive, uncompromising action.<\/em><em> From this point forward, the bank will be allowed to operate in Brazil only if it pays compensation to every citizen, in the amounts specified.\u201d <\/em>And \u2014 what do you know? \u2014 bingo! Suddenly, every Brazilian is entitled to a one-time payout ranging from 1518 to 10\u00a0626 Brazilian reals (approximately US$250\u20132000).<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_53583\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2025\/06\/04091322\/fake-bank-payments-02.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53583\" class=\"size-large wp-image-53583\" src=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2025\/06\/04091322\/fake-bank-payments-02-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Scam says court ruling guarantees compensation of up to R$10 000\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-53583\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scam says court ruling guarantees compensation of up to R$10 000<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Then the journalist clones return to the screen, supposedly showing a social media post from the bank that \u201cconfirms\u201d the statement. But how do you actually cash in? Well, an AI-generated voiceover, set against a video tutorial, explains that all Brazilians need to visit a website \u201ccreated by the tax authority and the bank\u201d, enter their <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/CPF_number\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CPF<\/a> (the Brazilian taxpayer ID), and calculate their personal compensation amount.<\/p>\n<p>The setup is clear: as soon as the victim finishes watching the video, they\u2019re funneled straight to a specially crafted phishing website, where a quick identity check awaits.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>\u201cWhat\u2019s your mother\u2019s name?\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>\u201cWhat\u2019s your date of birth?\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>\u201cYou have an overdue insurance payment in the amount of\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_53582\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2025\/06\/04091205\/fake-bank-payments-03-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53582\" class=\"size-full wp-image-53582\" src=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2025\/06\/04091205\/fake-bank-payments-03-1.jpg\" alt=\"A barrage of questions, and even a voice message generated by AI \u2014 now that's technology at work!\" width=\"950\" height=\"701\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-53582\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A barrage of questions, and even a voice message generated by AI \u2014 now that\u2019s technology at work!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Answer all the questions correctly (not that it really matters \u2014 you can type whatever you like), and you\u2019re through to the final stage. You\u2019re told the transaction is practically on its way and the money is about to hit your account, but there\u2019s a snag. You\u2019re required to pay three taxes: a road tax, a transfer tax, and a receipt tax, totaling just 55 Brazilian reals (around $10) \u2014 a mere pittance compared to the promised windfall of 7854 reals (roughly $1400). Next, the site asks you to enter your bank card details, confirm your CPF once again, and provide your name, email, and phone number before making the payment. And when those \u201ctaxes\u201d are paid\u2026\u00a0absolutely nothing happens! The money and personal information will go straight to the scammers \u2014 and, of course, no one will ever see a payout.<\/p>\n<h2>Protecting yourself against payout scams<\/h2>\n<p>This scam targets Brazilian residents, but it could easily be adapted to other languages, themes, and continents. By tomorrow, you can bet the scammers will have cooked up a brand-new pretext: government fitness reimbursements, free food, a gas-bill refund, or something else entirely. That\u2019s why it\u2019s crucial to recognize the pattern: there\u2019s always enticing bait (think free giveaways of something valuable), a phishing website, and a fake news report to seal the deal. But how can you spot the catch in videos like these?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Watch the lips.<\/strong> Then you can spot the AI-generated journalist clones not always opening their mouths correctly. AI still struggles to perfectly sync lip movements with the audio track.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Watch the facial expressions. <\/strong>Sure, these \u201cnews\u201d videos might look convincing in a still frame, but if you look closely at AI-generated footage, you\u2019ll notice how the speaker\u2019s face can suddenly shift or change in unnatural ways.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Inspect the background and lighting. <\/strong>If the \u201cjournalist\u201d is standing in the middle of a field or some other empty space with blurry edges, or the lighting just looks off, chances are you\u2019re looking at an AI creation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But there\u2019s more!\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Be sure to read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/real-or-fake-image-analysis-and-provenance\/50932\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><strong>Watch the (verified) birdie, or new ways to recognize fakes<\/strong><\/a>. In that post, we provide detailed guidance on telling real photos from fakes. If you\u2019re worried that you or your loved ones might accidentally end up on a scam website, install <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/premium?icid=gl_bb2023-kdplacehd_acq_ona_smm__onl_b2c_kdaily_lnk_sm-team___kprem___\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Kaspersky Premium<\/a>. It automatically blocks access to suspicious links from chat apps and email to keep you safe from phishing. That way, if there\u2019s ever a threat, you won\u2019t even have to worry about spotting fake news yourself.<\/p>\n<p>Remember: following basic safety tips is one of the best ways to steer clear of scammers:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Avoid entering personal and payment details on suspicious websites<\/strong>. If they\u2019re asking for your date of birth, email, bank details, taxpayer ID, and\u2026\u00a0which doormat you keep your spare key under, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/safe-email-login-tips\/52857\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">chances are you\u2019re dealing with scammers<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Just a reminder: there\u2019s no such thing as a free lunch. <\/strong>Be suspicious if someone promises you the world for nothing \u2014 even if it seems to be coming from a government official in a video. In fact, be even more cautious if it\u2019s a government official speaking on camera!<\/li>\n<li><strong>If you have to pay to claim your prize, it\u2019s probably a scam. <\/strong>That\u2019s a classic scammer\u2019s trick: they promise you a huge payout, but only if you pay \u201ca fee\u201d, \u201ctax\u201d, or \u201cshipping\u201d first.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Avoid clicking suspicious links. <\/strong>As a rule of thumb, consider any link sent to you by strangers to be suspicious by default. But remember, even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/telegram-premium-scam\/52696\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">friends can end up sending scam links<\/a> \u2014 sometimes without even realizing it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>What else are scammers up to?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/how-to-protect-your-account-from-sim-swapping\/53337\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">SIMulated giveaway on Instagram: the prize is your account!<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/telegram-premium-scam\/52696\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">You\u2019ve been sent a \u201cgift\u201d \u2014 a Telegram Premium subscription<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/online-investment-dangerous-apps\/50057\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">It\u2019s a gas: how online scammers dupe \u201cinvestors\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/cryptowallet-free-seed-phrase-scam\/52810\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">You found a seed phrase from someone else\u2019s cryptowallet: what could go wrong?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/message-board-scam\/51379\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">How to sell your TV without losing your shirt (and banking data)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<input type=\"hidden\" class=\"category_for_banner\" value=\"premium-generic\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scammers are promising compensation from a bank to all comers \u2014 with no exceptions \u2014 and to boost their credibility they&#8217;ve even rolled out a deepfake newscast generated by AI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2710,"featured_media":53579,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1788,2683],"tags":[1140,3716,4531,80,76,726,321,422],"class_list":{"0":"post-53578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-privacy","8":"category-threats","9":"tag-ai","10":"tag-deepfakes","11":"tag-fakes","12":"tag-fraud","13":"tag-phishing","14":"tag-scam","15":"tag-technology","16":"tag-threats"},"hreflang":[{"hreflang":"x-default","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/fake-bank-payments\/53578\/"},{"hreflang":"en-in","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.in\/blog\/fake-bank-payments\/28931\/"},{"hreflang":"en-ae","url":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/fake-bank-payments\/24156\/"},{"hreflang":"en-gb","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.uk\/blog\/fake-bank-payments\/29034\/"},{"hreflang":"es-mx","url":"https:\/\/latam.kaspersky.com\/blog\/fake-bank-payments\/28200\/"},{"hreflang":"es","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.es\/blog\/fake-bank-payments\/31005\/"},{"hreflang":"ru","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.ru\/blog\/fake-bank-payments\/39805\/"},{"hreflang":"tr","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com.tr\/blog\/fake-bank-payments\/13432\/"},{"hreflang":"fr","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.fr\/blog\/fake-bank-payments\/22843\/"},{"hreflang":"pt-br","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com.br\/blog\/fake-bank-payments\/23835\/"},{"hreflang":"de","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.de\/blog\/fake-bank-payments\/32271\/"},{"hreflang":"ru-kz","url":"https:\/\/blog.kaspersky.kz\/fake-bank-payments\/29223\/"},{"hreflang":"en-au","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com.au\/blog\/fake-bank-payments\/34970\/"},{"hreflang":"en-za","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.za\/blog\/fake-bank-payments\/34603\/"}],"acf":[],"banners":"","maintag":{"url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/tag\/scam\/","name":"scam"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2710"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53578"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53587,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53578\/revisions\/53587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}