A deepfake caller pretending to be a Ukrainian official almost tricked a US senator

The head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee took a Zoom call with someone using deepfake technology to pose as a top Ukrainian official, The New York Times reports.

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) received an email last Thursday that appeared to be from Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s former foreign minister, asking him to meet on Zoom. The person on the other end of the call reportedly looked and sounded like Kuleba but was acting strangely. He asked Cardin “politically charged questions in relation to the upcoming election,” according to an email Senate security officials sent legislators that was obtained by the Times. The fake Kuleba demanded that Cardin give his opinion on foreign policy questions, including whether he supported firing…

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