What's behind OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's warning and who is liable in cases of voice fraud.
Artificial intelligence can imitate voices and faces with uncanny realism. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has therefore warned banks about security procedures that rely on voice recognition. Rogert & Ulbrich explains the validity of this warning, who is liable if fraudsters use AI to steal your money, and how you can protect yourself.
What Sam Altman actually said
A sensationalized version of a warning by Sam Altman is currently circulating on social media. The remarks originate from a conference held by the US Federal Reserve in July 2025. There, Altman addressed representatives of the financial industry about the implications of AI for banking security.
His key points: Some financial institutions still accept voice as proof of identity. Altman considers this reckless because AI has completely undermined this method. He warned of an impending major fraud crisis. After voices, video calls will soon be so well faked that they will be indistinguishable from reality.
The claim that Altman announced bank deposits would disappear is not found in the reports about his speech. His warning concerns the danger of fraudsters using fake voices and videos to trigger transfers or trick people into making payments. That is serious enough.
Are you unsure whether a call from your bank was genuine? Check your account and seek advice if something seems off.
This is how fraud with AI voices and deepfakes works
For a voice clone, fraudsters often only need a few seconds of audio material, such as from videos on social networks or a short phone call. The software then generates a voice that can speak any sentence. In practice, three main patterns emerge:
- Deception of the bank: Fraudsters use a cloned voice to impersonate the account holder at the bank and have transfers made or security features changed.
- Shock call with a familiar voice: A person claiming to be a relative contacts the person in distress and asks for an urgent money transfer. The voice sounds genuine.
- Fake bank employee: A caller pretends to be a bank employee and persuades customers to authorize payments or transfer money to an alleged security account.
- Fake video conference: Businesses in particular are being deceived through video calls in which supposed superiors authorize payments.
The effectiveness of such methods was demonstrated by a well-known case from Hong Kong. There, an employee of an international company transferred around 25 million US dollars in early 2024 after participating in a video conference with fake colleagues.
Did you respond to such a call and transfer money? Act immediately, because every hour can be crucial for getting it back.
Who is liable if fraudsters impersonate you?
Legally, the crucial factor is who initiated the payment. If fraudsters impersonate you to your bank and initiate a transfer, you have not consented to this payment. It is an unauthorized transaction.
In this case, the legal situation is clear: According to Section 675u of the German Civil Code (BGB), the bank must reimburse the amount. The European Court of Justice confirmed in October 2026 that banks may not refuse this reimbursement simply on the grounds that the customer acted with gross negligence.
The bank can only reclaim the money from the customer if it can prove intent or gross negligence on their part. This will likely be difficult if the bank itself has used a system that can be circumvented by a forged vote. Banks that rely on insecure methods generally bear the associated risk.
The same applies to online banking fraud, where the perpetrator uses fraudulently obtained access data to initiate payments themselves.
Is your bank refusing to refund a payment you didn't authorize? Have the refusal reviewed.
If you made the transfer yourself
The situation is more complicated if you initiated the transfer yourself, for example, after a shock call with a cloned voice of a relative. Legally, the payment is then authorized, even if you were deceived. The obligation to reimburse under Section 675u of the German Civil Code (BGB) generally does not apply in this case.
Those affected are not entirely without hope. Depending on the case, other options may be considered:
- Recall of the transfer: Report the fraud to your bank immediately. If the money has not yet been credited to the recipient's account or is not yet available, it may still be possible to stop the payment.
- Obligations of the bank: Banks may be obligated to issue warnings in cases of unusual payments that clearly indicate fraud. Whether such an obligation has been violated depends on the circumstances.
- Recipient verification: Since October 2025, banks in the Eurozone have been required to check whether the recipient's name and IBAN match before processing a transfer. A warning in case of discrepancies can be relevant to liability issues.
- Claims against recipients: Claims exist against the holders of the recipient accounts, even if they are often difficult to enforce.
In any case, file a criminal complaint and secure all evidence: call logs, messages, transfer receipts and notes on the conversation.
Were you pressured into making a payment using a fake voice? Have your bank or other parties involved checked to see if you have any claims against them.
How to protect yourself from AI voice fraud
The best defense against fake voices and videos is healthy skepticism and a solid routine. These rules will help:
- Call back: If you receive an unusual call, hang up and call the person or your bank back using a number you know to be correct.
- Agree on a code word: Agree on a code word with your relatives for emergencies that no one else knows.
- No approvals over the phone: Your bank will never ask you to authorize payments, provide TANs, or transfer money to a secure account over the phone.
- Don't use your voice as a safety net: Where possible, avoid logging in by voice and instead use secure methods in the banking app.
- Setting limits: Low transfer and real-time limits limit the potential damage.
- Limit public recordings: The fewer voice and video recordings of you are publicly available, the harder it will be to clone you.
We describe other methods criminals use to obtain money in the section below. Online fraud.
Don't let yourself be pressured. Real emergencies can survive a two-minute callback.
What banks need to do now
Altman's warning was directed primarily at the financial sector. Banks are required to use strong customer authentication for payments, combining at least two independent factors such as knowledge, possession, and biometric characteristics. Methods that can be circumvented with a forged voice hardly meet this requirement anymore.
For customers, this is more than just a technical issue. If a bank relies on a method considered insecure according to current technological standards, this can work against it in a liability dispute. Therefore, if a loss occurs, it's worth taking a close look at how the bank verified the identity.
Was a payment initiated after a phone call with your bank? Ask how your identity was verified and have the answer legally reviewed.
Rogert & Ulbrich – Your lawyers for bank and online fraud
Rogert & Ulbrich represents consumers in banking law vis-à-vis banks and payment service providers. The partners Dr. Marco Rogert and Tobias Ulbrich have extensive experience with online banking fraud cases and with issues related to artificial intelligence.
We investigate whether a payment was authorized, whether your bank is obligated to refund the payment, and whether it breached its duty of care. We enforce your claims both out of court and in court.
Have you fallen victim to a scam involving a fake voice or video? Take action. contact and secure your claims.
