The African Union (AU) Commission was recently targeted by cybercriminals who used artificial intelligence (AI) to impersonate Moussa Faki, its chairperson.

The AU’s secretariat often writes to world leaders whenever the Chairperson of the commission has to make a call, since it is a routine for the AU leadership to request meetings with officials from other nations or international organizations.

On this backdrop, scammers used fake email addresses, pretending to be the organisation’s deputy chief of staff, seeking to arrange calls between foreign leaders and Faki.

Ebba Kalondo, Faki’s spokesperson confirmed that the cybercriminals held video calls with several European leaders, while using deep fake video alterations to impersonate the chairperson.

"It has come to the attention of the Bureau of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission that several foreign capitals fell victim to fake email address purporting to be official emails from the Deputy Chief of Staff on behalf of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, requesting phone calls with foreign leaders,” reads a statement by the AU Commission posted via social media.

The commission added that it "regrets these incidents,” and stressed that it only uses official diplomatic channels to communicate with foreign governments, through their embassies in Addis Ababa.