What happened
In August 2022 Binance disclosed that a 'sophisticated hacking team' had produced a deepfake video likeness of chief communications officer Patrick Hillmann and used it on Zoom calls with representatives of cryptocurrency projects. The impersonator offered help getting tokens listed on Binance and solicited payments and information. Hillmann said several project managers were convinced before the fraud was discovered, and that the clone was built from his publicly available interview footage.
How the deception worked
The pretext was the single thing small crypto projects want most, a listing on the largest exchange, and the caller occupied a role that plausibly controls access to it. Contact was made over social channels and then escalated to a Zoom call, where the deepfake of a face the targets had seen in Binance media coverage supplied the trust signal that a mere email could not. Because listing discussions are routinely confidential and involve fees, requests for money and business documents did not look out of place. Victims were pushed to move fast on the implied scarcity of a listing slot, and only later checked with Binance through official channels.
AI involvement · Confirmed AI-enabled
Binance chief communications officer Patrick Hillmann said attackers built an AI video 'hologram' of him from his past news interviews and TV appearances and used it live on Zoom calls.
The control that would have caught it· our reading, not a claim from the sources
Exchange listing and partnership discussions should be confirmed through the company's published contact channels, and no vendor should treat a video likeness as proof of employment.
Sources (2)
- Binance exec says scammers made a deepfake hologram of himThe Register·theregister.comOpen ↗
- Deepfake hologram targets Binance and crypto communityMalwarebytes Labs·malwarebytes.comOpen ↗
This entry summarises public reporting. It is not a legal finding, and details can change as investigations conclude. Found an error? Send a correction.