Global digital threats: Forex fraud in Germany and AI disinformation campaigns

Investigations have uncovered two major digital threats involving large-scale fraud and automated disinformation.

In Germany, an Israeli IT firm named Airsoft is at the center of a massive Forex fraud scheme. The company’s software was used to power fraudulent trading platforms that manipulated market data and fake profits to deceive investors. While the total platform turnover reached approximately 950 million euros, 24 specific portals caused 68 million euros in damages within Germany alone. Investigators are targeting former Airsoft CEO Shay Benhamou as a key figure in the organized criminal structure.

Separately, reports indicate that state actors from Iran and China, along with private Israeli firms like IntelEye, are deploying autonomous AI agents for disinformation campaigns. These actors use open-source AI models to manage hundreds of automated profiles on social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok. An Iranian campaign specifically targeted US voters by using AI proxies to bypass security measures and spread content against the Republican Party, reaching roughly 80,000 followers before Meta intervened to remove the accounts.