Amsterdam man opened nearly 50 bank accounts by sticking his head onto stolen passports
A 34-year-old man from Amsterdam is on trial for allegedly opening nearly 50 bank accounts at ABN AMRO using deepfake technology, authorities said. Prosecutors say the accounts were created with stolen identities and could have been used for fraud or money laundering, RTL reports.
Sebastiaan J., the accused, told the court he was motivated by a desire to “quickly earn money.” He said he responded to a TikTok post offering easy work and was put in contact with someone identified only as “Mick.” Mick asked J. to send photos and videos of himself in exchange for payment in cryptocurrency.
J. said the images were supposedly for AI promotional videos but later realized they were being misused to bypass ABN AMRO’s account security.
Customers at ABN AMRO can open accounts via their mobile phones by submitting a photo of their ID and a selfie. The bank’s automated system verifies the identity. In this case, one account was requested in a woman’s name, but the selfie showed J.’s face, altered with AI to overlay the woman’s lips and other features onto his image.
ABN AMRO investigated and found 46 accounts created with fake identities. Many of the accounts included selfies of J. edited to resemble the ID holder.
In November, the Marechaussee stopped J. at a border checkpoint. Officers observed him quickly deleting the Telegram app from his phone and discovered a stack of envelopes in his car containing debit cards and PINs for multiple ABN AMRO accounts. Police also seized dozens of fake IDs and chat logs with ChatGPT, in which J. asked how to bypass the bank’s security measures.
CCTV footage showed J. depositing large amounts of cash into several of the fraudulent accounts. Authorities say these transactions could have been used for money laundering.
Investigators also found a Marktplaats account on J.’s phone used to post an advertisement for a rental property in Amsterdam. Applicants were required to submit documents including pay slips and identification, which were later used to open bank accounts.
J. claims he only realized in September that his images were being exploited and that Mick pressured him to continue participating. Prosecutors, however, contend that he either knew or should have known his photos were being used for criminal purposes.
