IOC asks stakeholders to be extremely vigilant as fake accounts impersonating the IOC President are contacting highranking persons

01 January 2025 – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been made aware of a campaign involving two fake accounts on WhatsApp and Telegram, together with email messages impersonating IOC President Thomas Bach. They are contacting high-ranking persons from various walks of life, including senior politicians and Olympic Movement officials. Among other means, the campaign uses a deep-faked voice purporting to be that of the IOC President, which has been created using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The aim of the campaign seems to be to obtain sensitive information, draw the contacted persons into sensitive conversations and gain unauthorised access to their systems.

The unknown perpetrator has also tried to gain access to sensitive data of the IOC President, by contacting him and impersonating a high-ranking politician. The attempt was not successful.

The IOC has informed its stakeholders about the campaign. Since the campaign is wide-ranging and sophisticated, reaching out to an unknown number of high-ranking persons from different walks of life, the IOC asks everyone to be extremely vigilant if they are contacted.

The IOC, its President and the Olympic Games were already part of a widespread disinformation and defamation campaign ahead of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The IOC made the public aware of the situation on multiple occasions:

9 November 2023: IOC statement on fake news campaigns targeting the IOC

21 March 2024: Disinformation and defamation campaign against IOC continues

3 July 2024: IOC Statement on rumours concerning the Olympic Games Paris 2024