A Spy Scams Recruiters On LinkedIn With A Deepfake Photo

A LinkedIn user whose name is Katie Jones has a quite impressive profile on LinkedIn at first glance. She has connections with several important political members of the Washington D.C. She was connected with a senator’s senior aide, the state’s deputy assistant secretary and the economist, Paul Winfree. But it turned out, Jones may actually have been a made-up persona created by a spy. The profile picture of Jones was almost certainly a product of an artificial intelligence algorithm’s deepfake.

If looking closely at Jones’ photo, you can find distinct flaws. For example, her earring is blurred since the algorithm can only generate facial features and surrounding her hair is an eerie light.

German artist Mario Klingermann who has had experiences with artificially generate portraits by reviewing tens of thousands of images like this said:

But seeing how easy it is for someone to operate a fake account with a deepfake photo connected to prominent D.C. politics suggests the dangers these AI-generated images pose in intelligence operations in the future.

The Katie Jones profile had 52 connections in total. The Associated Press reported that many people who are in the list of Jones’ connections felt suspicious at first but still accepted her requests. On the other hand, Paul Winfree, who used to work in Trumps’ domestic policy council as the deputy director said he accepts every request he receives, which gave the fake account further credibility.

Winfree said:

Think tank Alliance of Democracies Foundation’s program director, Jonas Parello-Plesner, explained: