Deepfake video call
In plain terms
The video call used to be the check that worked: you could see the person. A face and voice can now be reproduced live, which means verifying has to happen some other way.
Definition
A deepfake video call is the use of a synthetic face and voice in real time during a video call, to get a request — most often a wire transfer — approved by someone who believes they're seeing the person they know.
How it works
The video call used to serve as the final check in several frauds described on this site: seeing the person was enough to settle the matter. That shortcut is no longer safe. Video-call image quality actually works in the technique's favor — compression, latency, tight framing, poor lighting — because these familiar flaws mask the ones of the synthesis. The scenario reuses the fake wire-transfer instruction, adding the step that used to make it refutable: a short video call, where an executive confirms the instruction before having to hang up. The demand to act fast and keep it quiet remains central, because real-time synthesis doesn't hold up well to duration or the unexpected.
Warning signs
- Unusually short video call, with a pretext for hanging up quickly
- Fixed camera, tight framing, little head or hand movement
- Anomalies during large movements: face outline, occlusion when a hand passes in front
- Mismatch between sound and image, or oddly flat intonation
- Refusal to switch to another tool or to call back on a known number
- Urgent, confidential financial request made during the call
How to verify
Don't treat the video call as your proof: treat it as one step. The check that holds is calling back on a number you had before the call, and dual approval for a wire transfer, which doesn't depend on any image. During the call, asking for an unplanned gesture — turning to show a profile, passing a hand in front of the face, picking up an object — puts real-time synthesis under strain, but remains a clue, not proof.
What to do
Keep dual approval for wire transfers even after a video call: that is precisely the procedure this technique aims to bypass. Agree, in finance teams as well as in families, on a confirmation channel separate from the one the request arrives through.
If it already happened
Contact the bank immediately to try to recall the funds — timing is the decisive factor. Keep the recording if one exists, the video tool's connection logs, and the meeting invitations, then file a police report. Warn the person whose likeness was used.
Frequently asked questions
- So does a video call no longer verify an identity?
- It still has value — persistent refusal remains revealing — but it's no longer enough on its own. The fiches on this site that recommend it now say so: the check that decides is calling back on a number that predates the request, and for a wire transfer, dual approval.
- How can you put a live synthesis under strain?
- By asking for the unexpected: a full profile turn, a hand passed in front of the face, an object picked up and shown. These are costly for a real-time synthesis. Treat them as a clue that invites you to verify some other way, never as a decisive test.
Related attacks
Official sources
Also known as: faked video call, real-time deepfake, CEO fraud by video call.
This article is part of the AI and synthetic content family. Last updated: 2026-09-03.