Push Admin

Deepfake scam video cost company $26 million: Hong Kong police

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<p>HONG KONG, China - Scammers tricked a multinational firm out of some $26 million by impersonating senior executives using deepfake technology, Hong Kong police said Sunday, in one of the first cases of its kind in the city.</p><p>Law enforcement agencies are scrambling to keep up with generative artificial intelligence, which experts say holds potential for disinformation and misuse -- such as deepfake images showing people mouthing things they never said.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/01/26/24/cybersecurity-experts-warn-public-vs-deepfake-video-boom">Cybersecurity experts warn public vs &#x27;deepfake&#x27; video boom</a></div><p>A company employee in the Chinese finance hub received &quot;video conference calls from someone posing as senior officers of the company requesting to transfer money to designated bank accounts&quot;, police told AFP.</p><p>Police received a report of the incident on January 29, at which point some HK$200 million ($26 million) had already been lost via 15 transfers.</p><p>&quot;Investigations are still ongoing and no arrest has been made so far,&quot; police said, without disclosing the company&#x27;s name.</p><p>The victim was working in the finance department, and the scammers pretended to be the firm&#x27;s UK-based chief financial officer, according to Hong Kong media reports.</p><p>Acting Senior Superintendent Baron Chan said the video conference call involved multiple participants, but all except the victim were impersonated.</p><p>&quot;Scammers found publicly available video and audio of the impersonation targets via YouTube, then used deepfake technology to emulate their voices... to lure the victim to follow their instructions,&quot; Chan told reporters.</p><p>The deepfake videos were pre-recorded and did not involve dialogue or interaction with the victim, he added.</p><div><strong>hol/st</strong></div><div><strong></strong><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Bjj76FsG9Bc?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>Scammers tricked a multinational firm out of some $26 million by impersonating senior executives using deepfake technology, Hong Kong police said Sunday.</p>

Scammers tricked a multinational firm out of some $26 million by impersonating senior executives using deepfake technology, Hong Kong police said Sunday.