By video conference with Deepfake colleagues, he transferred $26 million to scammers – Liberation

An employee of a Hong Kong-based company was ordered by his superiors to carry out fifteen banking transactions… which were actually complex avatars generated by artificial intelligence. All for the benefit of scammers.

A complete scam? In Hong Kong, an employee of China’s financial center was forced by its finance director during a video conference where several of his colleagues were also present, to make fifteen transactions on five different bank accounts, totaling 200 million Hong Kong dollars (26 million US dollars). . So far, nothing unusual. All members of the video conference except the employee were generated by deepfake technology. Highly realistic images brought to life by artificial intelligence.

Chan Shun-ching, a senior police officer, said “During this multi-person video conference, it was revealed that everyone but him was fake, but seemed larger than life.” This is the first such case in the city. The scam, which was disclosed by Hong Kong police on Sunday 4 February following a report communicated by a multinational company on 29 January, however, according to the police: “The investigation is still ongoing.”

months of preparation

The victim worked in the company’s financial department and the scammers posed as the company’s financial director based in the United Kingdom, according to Hong Kong media. Although he initially thought it was phishing when he received an email inviting him to a video conference meeting, the employee was reassured by recognizing some of his colleagues. The employee discovered the dirty trick only by calling him after the meeting.

According to police, the scam required months of preparation. “Scammers found publicly available videos and audios via YouTube, then used deepfake techniques to mimic their voices to trick victims into following their instructions,” Chan Shun-ching told reporters. The AI-generated videos were pre-recorded and did not involve any dialogue or interaction with the victim, he added.

More and more scams by Deepfake

A deepfake is a video or audio recording created or modified using artificial intelligence. It is prone to misinformation and misuse. For example, AI can create images of people saying things they never said, such as when Vladimir Putin’s fake emergency message on Russian television and radio called for the evacuation of entire regions in June 2023.

This deepfake scam is far from being the first. In March 2019, the British CEO of a subsidiary of a German multinational energy company transferred 220,000 euros to Hungary after a phone call from the head of the parent company. In fact, a scammer changed the voice on the phone with artificial intelligence. But the Hong Kong scandal has reached unprecedented levels.