What happened
WPP chief executive Mark Read disclosed in an internal email reported in May 2024 that fraudsters had created a WhatsApp account bearing his photograph and used it to arrange a Microsoft Teams meeting with another senior WPP leader. During the meeting the attackers played YouTube footage of Read and used a voice clone, and impersonated him in the meeting chat, in an attempt to set up a new business venture and solicit money and personal details. WPP said the attempt was prevented by the vigilance of staff.
How the deception worked
The pretext was a new business opportunity that a chief executive might plausibly want to explore quietly with one trusted agency leader, which explained both the confidentiality and the unusual approach. The attackers assembled several weak trust signals into a convincing whole: a WhatsApp profile with Read's real photo, a Teams invite from an apparently senior source, video that showed his face and a synthetic voice on the line, and chat messages written in his persona. The technical staging papered over the gaps, with camera and audio problems used to explain why the video looked like recorded footage. The target was asked to move on money and personal information without touching normal corporate process.
AI involvement · Confirmed AI-enabled
Attackers set up a WhatsApp account using a publicly available image of chief executive Mark Read, then ran a Microsoft Teams meeting using YouTube footage of him alongside an AI voice clone.
The control that would have caught it· our reading, not a claim from the sources
Verifying meeting invitations through the corporate directory rather than a messaging-app contact, and refusing to progress financial arrangements outside standard process, are what stopped this.
Sources (2)
- CEO of world's biggest ad firm targeted by deepfake scamThe Guardian·theguardian.comOpen ↗
- Scammers Reportedly Used AI Voice Clone and YouTube Footage to Impersonate WPP CEOAI Incident Database·incidentdatabase.aiOpen ↗
This entry summarises public reporting. It is not a legal finding, and details can change as investigations conclude. Found an error? Send a correction.