As reported by SCMP, a worker at a big company in Hong Kong was fooled into sending $25.6 million to scammers. These bad actors used deepfakes, which are very realistic fake videos, to pretend they were the company's bosses. They tricked the worker during a video call, making him think he was talking to the company's CFO and other team members from the UK. But in reality, all the people he saw were fake images made from videos found online.
The worker got an email asking for secret money transfers. He was unsure at first, but the video call with the fake CFO made him follow through. They told him to quickly send the money in 15 different transfers to five local bank accounts. After doing what they asked, he checked with his company a week later and found out it was all a scam.
Hong Kong police have caught six people involved in this scam. These people had stolen eight ID cards and tried to open 54 bank accounts and get 90 loans in 2023. They also fooled facial recognition systems 20 times using deepfakes.
Deepfakes are becoming a big problem because they are very convincing. They have been used to fake videos of famous people like Taylor Swift and even President Joe Biden. For example, there were fake harmful images of Swift and a scam aimed at shoppers, plus a fake recording of President Biden's voice used in phone calls telling people not to vote.
This scam in Hong Kong shows how serious the problem with deepfakes is. It's not just about making fake videos for fun; it's about stealing a lot of money and tricking people and even technology that's supposed to keep us safe.
Image: Digital Information World - AIgen
Read next: Cyberattacks Are Getting More Creative, Here's What You Need to Know
The worker got an email asking for secret money transfers. He was unsure at first, but the video call with the fake CFO made him follow through. They told him to quickly send the money in 15 different transfers to five local bank accounts. After doing what they asked, he checked with his company a week later and found out it was all a scam.
Hong Kong police have caught six people involved in this scam. These people had stolen eight ID cards and tried to open 54 bank accounts and get 90 loans in 2023. They also fooled facial recognition systems 20 times using deepfakes.
Deepfakes are becoming a big problem because they are very convincing. They have been used to fake videos of famous people like Taylor Swift and even President Joe Biden. For example, there were fake harmful images of Swift and a scam aimed at shoppers, plus a fake recording of President Biden's voice used in phone calls telling people not to vote.
This scam in Hong Kong shows how serious the problem with deepfakes is. It's not just about making fake videos for fun; it's about stealing a lot of money and tricking people and even technology that's supposed to keep us safe.
Read next: Cyberattacks Are Getting More Creative, Here's What You Need to Know
