Tricky Russian duo targets high-ranking Western officials with video calls

A pro-Russian scammer is impersonating a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow in live video calls, as part of a disinformation campaign that researchers say is seeking to hurt high-ranking Western officials since the Ukraine war.

Russian comedy duo Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, known as Fofan and Lexus, have long been known for deceiving politicians and celebrities around the world, from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, singer Elton John and former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

But the two young men, who denied having any connection to the Kremlin despite suspected ties to Russia's security services, appear to have redoubled their efforts to trap high-ranking officials from America and Europe after taking a stand against Russia's war on Ukraine, according to cybersecurity experts.

Former U.S. ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul tweeted in September: "Warning. Someone uses the phone number +1 (202) 7549885 impersonate me."

"If you make a video call to this number, you'll see a deepfake+ video created by AI that looks like me and speaks the way I do. It's not me. This is a new Russian weapon of war."

McFaoul, who served as US ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, told AFP that his impersonator appeared "live" on calls to many in the Ukrainian government and "spoke in Russian", a language he knew but not fluently.

He added that the questions posed by this person were "clearly designed to undermine Ukraine's diplomatic and war efforts."

Proofpoint, a California-based cybersecurity firm, said its analysts assessed "very reliably" that the work was behind Fofan and Lexus, named TA499.

"For some time, TA499 impersonated Makfaul in an attempt to communicate with high-level officials internationally," the company's researchers told AFP.

With an aggressive approach, the duo targeted prominent figures critical of Moscow with fake emails.

According to a report by the cybersecurity company, the Russian duo sent emails, sometimes from "ukr.net" addresses to appear real, in an attempt to impersonate Ukrainian officials, such as the prime minister, deputies or their aides.

During the calls, the duo went so far as to use "intense makeup" to appear like an impersonator and convince their target to say things that were later selectively used for pro-Russian propaganda, the report said.

Eva Maitland of the censorship agency News Guard told AFP: "The goal seems to be to lead their goals to +disclose+ certain things or agree to certain statements."

"Parts of the interview could then be used poorly and widely in pro-Kremlin media ... to mock and insult those interviewed."

Excerpts of the calls are then posted on YouTube and RootUp, a Russian video platform.

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace wrote on Twitter in March: "A scammer claiming to be the Ukrainian Prime Minister made an attempt to talk to me."

"He asked many misleading questions and I ended the call after I questioned their veracity."

According to Proofpoint, it is very likely that the famous Russian duo was behind this call.