bunq · AI used against the institution · severity 1 of 5
In late September 2023 a bunq employee was invited to a video call with what appeared to be founder and chief executive Ali Niknam; the image and voice were an AI-generated clone, and the fake Niknam asked for a "substantial" sum of money to be transferred, NRC reported on 4 October 2023 after Niknam described the attempt on LinkedIn. The employee did not comply. Niknam told NOS the approach began with a WhatsApp message saying he was travelling and that a deposit for an acquisition had to be paid quickly; the employee later checked with him directly. Niknam called it the first deepfake of himself he knew of and said bunq's processes let it detect the fraud and alert all staff within minutes. No money was lost.
Record last reviewed Oct 21, 2026 · Markdown
Date
Sep 2023 · disclosed Oct 3, 2023
Institution
Country
Netherlands
AI system
AI-generated live video likeness and cloned voice of bunq's chief executive in a video call
AI?
Described as AI by the institution or regulator
The institution, a regulator or a court called the system AI.
Status
Confirmed by the institution
Severity
1 of 5
Impact
A "substantial" transfer was requested; the amount was not disclosed and nothing was paid · No customers involved · A targeted attempt on one bunq employee; the bank reported no loss.
What happened?
In the week before 3 October 2023 an employee of the Amsterdam online bank received an invitation to a video call that appeared to come from Ali Niknam, NRC reported. On the call the employee saw a clone of Niknam generated by artificial intelligence, with both his image and his voice imitated, and was asked to transfer "a considerable" amount of money. The employee did not do so. NRC noted that the clone spoke English, the language Niknam always uses at bunq.[1]
Speaking to NOS, Niknam said the approach started with a WhatsApp message in his name: "Hey, I'm travelling, we've just done an acquisition, we need to make a deposit quickly, otherwise the deal won't go through." The employee then received a video-call invitation; the picture was somewhat blocky, supposedly because of a bad connection. Afterwards the employee checked with Niknam, and it turned out to be fake. NRC described the first contact as an email invitation; NOS, quoting Niknam, as a WhatsApp message.[1][2]
Niknam disclosed the attempt in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday 3 October 2023. He told NRC it was, to his knowledge, the first time a deepfake of him had been made, that "my doppelgänger was enormously convincing", and that because it happened live he decided to send a warning out into the world. NRC reported it was, as far as known, the first time fraudsters had imitated both the image and voice of a Dutch chief executive.[1]
Computer Weekly, reporting on Dutch companies' exposure to deepfake fraud in March 2024, quoted Niknam's post: "Luckily, at bunq, we have processes in place that act as a failsafe in these situations. Not only were we able to quickly detect the fraud, but within minutes, everyone at bunq was alerted to this latest scheme." The magazine said bunq was one of the first companies to go public with such an attempt.[3]
When did it happen?
- Sep 2023
A bunq employee is invited to a video call with an AI-generated clone of CEO Ali Niknam and asked to transfer a substantial sum; the employee does not comply.[1][2]
- Oct 3, 2023
Niknam discloses the attempt in a LinkedIn post and warns about live deepfakes.[1]
- Oct 4, 2023
NRC reports the attempt, the first known deepfake of a Dutch chief executive's image and voice.[1]
- Oct 8, 2023
NOS carries Niknam's account of the WhatsApp message and the blocky video call.[2]
What was the impact?
- Financial: A "substantial" transfer was requested; the amount was not disclosed and nothing was paid[1][3]
- Customers: No customers involved[1][3]
- Other: A targeted attempt on one bunq employee; the bank reported no loss.[1][3]
Severity 1 of 5: Contained attempt on the institution's own staff: the employee did not transfer any money, no customers were involved and no regulatory action followed.
How did bunq respond?
bunq disclosed the attempt itself through its chief executive. Niknam said bunq has "processes in place that act as a failsafe in these situations", that the fraud was detected quickly and that "within minutes, everyone at bunq was alerted to this latest scheme". He told NOS the quality of such fakes would probably rise quickly in the coming months: "this is only going to get worse".[2][3]
What was the outcome, and did regulators act?
No money was transferred. No arrest, prosecution or regulatory action connected to the attempt has been reported in the sources reviewed as of 2026-10-21.[1][3]
What happened in the bunq CEO deepfake attempt?
In late September 2023 a bunq employee joined a video call with what looked and sounded like chief executive Ali Niknam, but was an AI-generated clone. The fake Niknam asked for a substantial money transfer. The employee did not comply, and Niknam disclosed the attempt on 3 October 2023.
Did bunq lose any money to the deepfake?
No. NRC reported that the employee did not fall for the trick, and Niknam said bunq's processes acted as a failsafe, detected the fraud quickly and alerted all staff within minutes. The amount requested was described only as substantial; nothing was paid and no customers were involved.
Was the bunq video call really made with AI?
Yes, according to NRC, which reported that the employee saw a clone of Niknam generated by artificial intelligence, with both image and voice imitated. Niknam called it a deepfake of himself and said his doppelgänger was enormously convincing; the picture was blocky, explained away as a bad connection.
How did the bunq employee spot the deepfake?
According to NOS, the employee checked with Niknam directly after the call and learned it was fake. The request, a quick deposit for a supposed acquisition while Niknam was travelling, went against the protocols bunq uses, a TU Delft ethicist told NOS, which made it odd in context.
When AI goes wrong at a bank, the next morning's brief says so.
when one of these regulators moves, the next morning's brief says so · six sourced stories · 7 am PT · free
plus every regulation, bank and agent page update, the morning after · leave any morning