Years ago I read somewhere that the way Russia does cyberwarfare is less organized than most people suspect. I'm not sure if it's true, but the argument is that it's more of a lousy goosy free agent type deal. Some of these agents are very clever, but others not so much, so you have a range of competencies just trying stuff.

That could be wrong, or they may have evolved a lot since, but amateurish deep fakes could be a fit. Some random kid just trying stuff and hoping for a pay day / bounty? Pure speculation though.