Hong Kong: Company becomes victim of deepfake, loss of $25.6 million; Know the whole matter

The Hong Kong branch of a multinational company has become a victim of deepfakes. Scammers using deepfake technology posed as a chief financial officer (CFO). Such work was carried out through a video conference call. Due to this deepfake, the company’s Hong Kong branch has suffered a loss of $25.6 million. This is said to be the first case of its kind in Hong Kong.

After the matter came to light, Hong Kong Police has started investigation. On February 2, Hong Kong police said the money transaction was ordered during a meeting. It was told that only the victim was real in this fake video call, all the other people present were deepfakes. Police have described this case as the first of its kind in Hong Kong. However, the police have not revealed the name of the company. Acting Senior Superintendent Baron Chan Shun-ching said that in previous cases victims of the scam had been duped by video calls. But the police said that this case is different, because all the men seen in this video call are fake.

An employee became suspicious after receiving a message purportedly from the company’s United Kingdom-based CFO and first dismissed it as a phishing email in January. The worker dismissed the suspicion after the video call as other people present looked exactly like colleagues and he recognized some others. Amid several such incidents, Chan said police have arrested six people so far.