Scammers have adopted a new attack vector: advertisements for fake online stores are now being reinforced with videos featuring AI doubles of famous people. The cybercrime unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs warned about this scheme.
Fake platforms masquerade as ordinary online stores and lure buyers with electronics and other goods at reduced prices. The low cost is explained by supplies from abroad or a large-scale sale. The victim is asked to make a full prepayment and is promised delivery within a month.
When the stated deadline expires, the goods never appear. Instead, the buyer receives an excuse about a customs delay — and no one returns the money.
AI as a trust tool
To make the ads look more convincing, attackers add videos featuring famous people generated by a neural network. Real stars do not appear in such videos — their image is entirely created by artificial intelligence. It is deepfake content that becomes the key element of trust in a dubious store.
This is not the agency's first warning about neural networks in scammers' arsenal. Previously, deepfakes supplemented the classic scenario with a call from a "bank security service" or from law enforcement: techniques are selected to match the victim's age.
Statistics on such cases are still few. In September, a representative of the same unit, Sergey Kalinin, reported that in 2025 and the first half of 2026, only 18 frauds involving a fake voice or appearance were registered in Russia. At the same time, the total number of frauds over the same period approached 480,000.
Basic protection rules
The agency reminded of simple rules for safe online shopping:
- check reviews about the store on independent platforms;
- pay upon receipt of the goods or through services with payment protection;
- do not agree to full prepayment.
They separately warned about pressure tactics. If the seller assures that the offer is valid only today, only two items remain, or the promotion will end in an hour, that is a reason to be wary. The agency calls such phrases manipulation, not a reason to pay.
Cryptalist analysis: While deepfake fraud currently accounts for a fraction of a percent of the total number of cybercrimes, the growth rate of generative AI tools makes this vector a systemic risk for the retail segment. For the crypto industry, the signal is especially significant: the same technology for synthesizing faces and voices is already being used in fake investment projects and "guaranteed" crypto schemes, so trust in any video call to invest should be based on verification, not on a recognizable face.