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AI Scammer Dupes MAGA Fans for Crypto

29 May

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Summary

Russian actor created a fake American veteran profile.
Jailbroken Google Gemini AI was used for scams.
Channel harvested credentials and cryptocurrency.

A Russian-speaking threat actor successfully deceived over 17,000 members of a Telegram channel, primarily from MAGA and QAnon communities, by posing as an American military veteran. This actor utilized a jailbroken version of Google Gemini AI to bypass ethical safeguards and automate fraudulent activities. The channel, established after the Capitol riot in 2021, focused on military service and constitutional patriotism to build an audience.

The actor leveraged the AI to ingest news articles, seeking specific angles for control and financial manipulation, and populated the Telegram channel automatically, often during U.S. time zones. This sophisticated operation also included a QAnon-style chatbot. For nearly five years, the actor likely incurred minimal costs by using stolen API keys, ultimately compromising WordPress credentials, infiltrating a company, and stealing cryptocurrency.

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