"Sent 34 Billion After Seeing Boss's Face..." Hong Kong in Chaos Over Deepfake Scam

Executive's Face and Voice Forged by AI Deepfake
Employee Tricked After Video Call, Transfers 34 Billion Won

A phishing scam ring in Hong Kong was caught using deepfake technology, which exploits artificial intelligence (AI), to swindle hundreds of dollars. The group forged the faces and voices of corporate executives using deepfake technology, deceiving finance staff into transferring money to specific accounts, causing shock. It is expected that regulations on AI technology will become stricter worldwide in the future.

According to CNN on the 4th (local time), the Hong Kong police held a briefing on the 2nd and announced that they had arrested six members of a gang that committed fraud using deepfake technology. According to the Hong Kong police, the suspects called a finance officer of a Hong Kong-based multinational company headquartered in the UK via video call and instructed them to transfer 200 million Hong Kong dollars (approximately 34 billion KRW), then embezzled the money.

The reason the finance officer of the company fell for the scam was that the face and voice of the person instructing the transfer during the video call were exactly the same as the company's Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Police investigations revealed that both the video and audio were fake, synthesized and replicated using AI.

As AI is exploited to create sophisticated deepfake technology and crimes are rampant, police authorities worldwide, not just in Hong Kong, are on high alert. Similar crimes are occurring across borders in various places.

In 2021, a bank in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) transferred about 42 billion KRW after receiving a call from an executive of a large company they usually dealt with, only to find out it was a scam. Additionally, in April last year, a businessman in Inner Mongolia, China, was deceived by a deep voice video call imitating a friend's voice and face, resulting in an 800 million KRW transfer. Last month, a photo combining pornographic content with American pop star Taylor Swift's face caused controversy.

Especially this year is called the "super election year," with various general and presidential elections held in over 40 countries worldwide, raising concerns that fake news and crimes exploiting deepfake technology will run rampant.