Binance Executive: Scammers Created a ‘Deep Fake Hologram’ of him to Fool Victims

According to a Binance public relations executive, fraudsters created a deep-fake “AI hologram” of him to scam cryptocurrency projects via Zoom video calls.

Patrick Hillmann, chief communications officer at the crypto hypermart, stated he received messages from project teams thanking him for meeting with them virtually to discuss listing their digital assets on Binance over the past month. This raised some suspicions because Hillmann isn’t involved in the exchange’s listings and doesn’t know the people messaging him.

“It turns out that a sophisticated hacking team used previous news interviews and TV appearances over the years to create a ‘deep fake’ of me,” Hillmann said. “Other than the 15 pounds that I gained during COVID being noticeably absent, this deep fake was refined enough to fool several highly intelligent crypto community members.”

Hillmann included a screenshot of a project manager asking him to confirm that he was, in fact, on a Zoom call in his write-up this week. The hologram is the latest example of cybercriminals impersonating Binance employees and executives on Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms.