AI-Driven Service OnlyFake Generates Counterfeit IDs, Allegedly Deceiving KYC Checks at Crypto Exchanges
Summary:
OnlyFake, a platform leveraging artificial intelligence to create counterfeit IDs, has reportedly fooled Know Your Customer (KYC) validations at various cryptocurrency exchanges. Priced at $15 apiece, it creates fake driver's licenses and passports from 26 countries. The platform's alleged success has been shared by users on a Telegram channel where they claim to have used fake IDs to circumvent checks at exchanges and financial service providers such as Kraken, Bybit, Bitget, Huobi, and PayPal. This raises concerns as crypto fraudsters and hackers could use these methods to hide their real identities, making their activities harder to trace.
A novel platform claiming to utilize artificial intelligence, neural networks, and generators to fabricate counterfeit driver licenses and passports has allegedly managed to deceive Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols at numerous cryptocurrency exchanges. Pricing at just $15 each, the website named OnlyFake, creates convincing forged driver’s licenses and passports from 26 countries. Payments are accepted in various cryptocurrencies via Coinbase's commercial transaction service.
As per 404 Media's report on February 5, it successfully outmaneuvered OKX crypto exchange's KYC validation procedure by using an image of a British passport created through OnlyFake's service. According to a tweet posted by a journalist, the deceptive ID passed scrutiny during OKX's identity verification process.
Conversations from a Telegram channel revealed by Cointelegraph highlight users' claimed victories in leveraging the counterfeit IDs to bypass authentication procedures at different crypto exchanges and financial providers like Kraken, Bybit, Bitget, Huobi, and PayPal. These underhanded practices could potentially benefit crypto fraudsters and hackers, who could open exchanges and bank accounts with fake credentials, effectively masking their actual identities and making them harder to trace.
"John Wick," the pseudonymous owner of OnlyFake, purportedly stated to 404 Media that the counterfeit IDs could evade KYC validations at a multitude of exchanges including Binance, Kraken, Bybit, Huobi, Coinbase, OKX, and the crypto-accepting neobank Revolut. OnlyFake, however, asserts it doesn’t “create forged documents as it is illegal,” and specifies that its “templates are solely for use in movies, TV serials [and] web illustrations.”
Generating a phony document on the site reportedly takes less than a minute. Users have the option to upload their own picture or select one from their personal collection, rather than using an AI generated image. A companion Telegram channel presents multiple instances of counterfeit licenses and passports, set out in situations mimicking real-life ID verification.
The same post notes that up to 100 phony IDs can be created at once using Excel data. OnlyFake also offers metadata manipulation, allowing users to alter elements like GPS location, date, time, and the device used to take the supposed photo, as some ID verification services use such data to confirm validity.
Criminals in the crypto world have long relied on such techniques to spoof information and gain access to crypto exchanges surreptitiously. In late 2022, blockchain security firm CertiK revealed an online marketplace where identities were being sold for as low as $8, enabling fraudulent entities to run crypto projects and open bank and exchange accounts on their behalf.
The pervasive and easy availability of AI deepfake tools has raised concerns among crypto industry leaders regarding the effectiveness of video verification methods for identity checks. In May 2023, Binance's Chief Security Officer, Jimmy Su, informed Cointelegraph about an increase in attempts by scammers to fool exchanges' KYC checks using advanced deepfakes.
Cointelegraph reached out to Coinbase for feedback regarding its commerce product being used by this service, but didn't receive an immediate response. Other companies including Binance, OKX, Kraken, Bybit, Bitget, Revolut, Huobi, and PayPal, when contacted for a statement regarding reports of their identity evaluations being evaded, did not respond immediately.
Published At
2/6/2024 5:47:55 AM
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