Multinational firm’s Hong Kong office loses HK$200 million after scammers stage deepfake video meeting

A multinational company lost HK$200 million (US$25.6 million) in a scam after employees at its Hong Kong branch were fooled by deepfake technology, with one incident involving a digitally recreated version of its chief financial officer ordering money transfers in a video conference call, police said.

Everyone present on the video calls except the victim was a fake representation of real people. The scammers applied deepfake technology to turn publicly available video and other footage into convincing versions of the meeting’s participants.

Police said they were highlighting the case as it was the first of its kind in Hong Kong and involved a large sum. They did not reveal details about the company or the employees involved.

After reading the whole article - wow that was one sophisticated scam.

Deepfake was only one part of it, scammers impersonated multiple people on video, chat and email to create a believable story. It was apparently not too out of line with the normal company processes, which makes it extra scary (and likely helped by someone on the inside)

ah good, the next excuse for bringing everyone back to the office

Damn what, that’s crazy.