Some of the people found out that they had been robbed of their identities when a detective showed them a short video of their own face.
On the screen, they were smiling, blinking, and turning their heads, but the clips they watched were not real.
Israeli investigators say the videos were generated using artificial intelligence and were good enough to fool the banks that relied on them.
Police have arrested the man behind those videos, Nikki Sokolov, from the quiet town of Tsur Yitzhak, and tied him to one of the strangest fraud cases the country of Israel has ever seen.
Investigators say he turned leaked ID photos into deepfake videos of strangers and then used AI agents to open up bank accounts with synthetic identities.
A Quiet Town, A Large Fraud
Police say that Sokolov stole more than 60 identities and reaped more than $50,000 in credit card proceeds by opening bank accounts using leaked data.
But the actual number of victims could be more. “There are approximately 120 complainants,” Sergeant Major Neumann (one of the police) told the court, adding that police had obtained roughly 90 warrants in connection with the investigation.
This case would not have made news if it were not for the way that he used the stolen identities – bypassing the banks’ fraud controls by using AI entirely.
He Used Leaked Data From Breaches And Animated The Photos
Police suspect that Sokolov took control of hacked databases online – including identities, ID cards, and credit cards. They believe he could have bought the data off Telegram.
The police say he animated the photos from the ID cards.
“The suspect takes those details and photos of the citizens, and ‘animates’ them, so that they look like ‘living characters’using AI, and sends them to banks and credit card companies,” police said.
Police Say He Used AI Agents
The case, which Police say they have been investigating since January, was complicated.
Investigators believe he used AI Agents to completely automate the fraud. The agents did everything from creating the animated videos to applying for bank accounts online.
The scheme worked amazingly well, and he successfully opened the accounts entirely with AI.
Watching Yourself on A Video You Never Made
For many of the victims, the first sign of trouble was a phone call they received from the police. Officers asked each of them to come in and file a complaint about crimes they had never known had even happened.
Then came the video. Investigators in the case said they showed people footage of their own face, which was animated to speak, smile, and look around.
One of the most jarring aspects of AI is watching a deepfake of yourself. Most of the victims were likely very surprised that these deepfakes were created without their knowledge.
He Hid Well And Then He Fled To Thailand
Since he used AI for everything, it was extremely hard to find him.
Police said they invested “significant resources” in finding him.
“We took extensive measures to find him, and we succeeded,” Neumann testified.
By the time the investigation widened, Sokolov had left the country.
According to investigators, when Sokolov realized that police were pursuing him, after officers searched his parents’ home and left an invitation for questioning, he crossed into Egypt through the Taba border crossing and subsequently flew to Thailand.
Israeli police worked with authorities in Thailand to bring him back. Thai authorities arrested him, then deported him after finding he had been living there without a valid visa.
Why the Banks Are Worried
In Israel, banks are worried. For years they have relied on remote identity checks that could not easily be faked.
Cheap and fast AI has changed their perspective that the systems are safe.
A smart guy like Sokolov, armed with relatively inexpensive AI, was able to manipulate the entire system and steal tens of thousands from hundreds of victims.
Sokolov didn’t sit at a keyboard, faking one account at a time. He wrote agents to do it for him, again and again. That’s the scary part.
