From Social Catfish:
The rise of romance scams and online dating fraud has pushed criminals to develop new methods of deception. Video chat scams represent the latest evolution in digital fraud, where scammers leverage pre-recorded footage, deepfake technology, and fake webcam applications to create convincing but entirely fabricated video interactions.
These fake video call techniques are commonly used in romance scams, where criminals build emotional connections before requesting money or personal information. Scammers also utilize deepfake video chat scams for blackmail schemes, particularly “sextortion” cases where victims are recorded in compromising situations with fake participants. Financial fraud represents another growing application, with criminals impersonating trusted individuals to manipulate victims into wire transfers or sharing sensitive data.