Scammers convinced an employee that the world around them was an illusion.
According to SCMP media, an international company in Hong Kong became a victim of fraud using deepfake technology, losing $25.6 million. Employees of a local branch were deceived by using a digital double of the chief financial officer, who ordered money transfers during a video conference.
The case was the first of its kind in Hong Kong and attracted particular interest due to the large amount of money involved. Details about the company and employees were not disclosed. The police focused on the novelty of the fraud method, when all participants in a group video call, except for the victim herself, were deepfakes.
Unlike previous cases of fraud, where victims were deceived during one-on-one video calls, attackers used deepfake technology to create group video conferences, where the appearance and voices of fraudsters were indistinguishable from real people.
This approach made it possible to deceive an employee of the finance department. He received a phishing message allegedly from the chief financial officer of the company from the UK about the need for a secret transaction, and, despite initial doubts, took part in a group video conference, where the director, other employees of the company and third parties were "present". The employee followed the instructions of the interviewees and made 15 transfers totaling HK $ 200 million to 5 bank accounts in Hong Kong.
The events unfolded over the course of a week from the moment of contacting the employee to the moment when the person realized the deception by contacting the company's head office. During the investigation, the police found out that the participants of the meeting were deepfakes, for which publicly available videos and audio recordings were used.
It is noted that during the video conference, the scammers asked the victim to introduce himself, but in fact did not interact with her. The dipfakes on the screen mostly indicated the transfer of funds.
The scammers kept in touch with the victims via instant messengers, email, and video calls, using similar methods to communicate with several other employees of the company. Police are still investigating, but no arrests have been made so far.
Hong Kong police are calling for vigilance, pointing out new ways of using deepfake technologies by fraudsters. There are several ways to verify the authenticity of the interlocutors in video conferences, including asking them to move their heads and answer questions, especially if the conversation raises the issue of money transfers.
Separately, there is an initiative to expand the fraud notification mechanism in the Fast Payment System (FPS), which will allow users to warn about transfers to fraud-related accounts through 35 banks and 9 funds storage services, as well as through mobile applications, ATMs and bank counters in the second half of the year.
According to SCMP media, an international company in Hong Kong became a victim of fraud using deepfake technology, losing $25.6 million. Employees of a local branch were deceived by using a digital double of the chief financial officer, who ordered money transfers during a video conference.
The case was the first of its kind in Hong Kong and attracted particular interest due to the large amount of money involved. Details about the company and employees were not disclosed. The police focused on the novelty of the fraud method, when all participants in a group video call, except for the victim herself, were deepfakes.
Unlike previous cases of fraud, where victims were deceived during one-on-one video calls, attackers used deepfake technology to create group video conferences, where the appearance and voices of fraudsters were indistinguishable from real people.
This approach made it possible to deceive an employee of the finance department. He received a phishing message allegedly from the chief financial officer of the company from the UK about the need for a secret transaction, and, despite initial doubts, took part in a group video conference, where the director, other employees of the company and third parties were "present". The employee followed the instructions of the interviewees and made 15 transfers totaling HK $ 200 million to 5 bank accounts in Hong Kong.
The events unfolded over the course of a week from the moment of contacting the employee to the moment when the person realized the deception by contacting the company's head office. During the investigation, the police found out that the participants of the meeting were deepfakes, for which publicly available videos and audio recordings were used.
It is noted that during the video conference, the scammers asked the victim to introduce himself, but in fact did not interact with her. The dipfakes on the screen mostly indicated the transfer of funds.
The scammers kept in touch with the victims via instant messengers, email, and video calls, using similar methods to communicate with several other employees of the company. Police are still investigating, but no arrests have been made so far.
Hong Kong police are calling for vigilance, pointing out new ways of using deepfake technologies by fraudsters. There are several ways to verify the authenticity of the interlocutors in video conferences, including asking them to move their heads and answer questions, especially if the conversation raises the issue of money transfers.
Separately, there is an initiative to expand the fraud notification mechanism in the Fast Payment System (FPS), which will allow users to warn about transfers to fraud-related accounts through 35 banks and 9 funds storage services, as well as through mobile applications, ATMs and bank counters in the second half of the year.
