According to a report by Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), scammers used deepfake technology in a carefully planned scheme to impersonate multiple company members during an online video conference and deceive an employee of a multinational corporation into transferring HKD 200 million (approximately USD 2.55 million) of company funds.
Acting Senior Superintendent of the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau, Hong Kong Police Force, Mr. Chan Chun-ching, stated that the incident began last month when a finance officer of the Hong Kong branch of the multinational corporation received a message from someone impersonating the company’s Chief Financial Officer based in the United Kingdom. The message invited the victim to participate in a multi-person video conference to discuss a confidential transaction.
The scammers used artificial intelligence deepfake technology to impersonate multiple individuals during the online conference and deceived the finance officer into transferring the company’s HKD 200 million funds through 15 transactions into 5 bank accounts. Mr. Chan believes that the fraudsters utilized publicly available videos of the company’s senior executives on the internet to create the deepfake images.
The employee realized they had been deceived only after consulting with the headquarters. The police stated that this is the first such case to occur in Hong Kong, amid a sharp increase in deepfake scams in the city. Mr. Chan emphasized, “We hope to remind the public to be aware of these new fraudulent techniques.”
Source: Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK)
