An employee of a financial company in Hong Kong sent $25.6 million to fraudsters posing as executives. Using deepfake images, the fraudsters held a video meeting with the employee and persuaded him to send the money.
With the widespread use of artificial intelligence, we are starting to see deepfake Images can be used for many purposes, from impersonating celebrities to defrauding people. A recent incident in Hong Kong shows how serious the situation can become.
In an incident that took place at an unnamed financial company in Hong Kong, an employee was deceived by deepfake images. Scammers in a video call using artificial intelligence pretended to be a company executive and stole millions of dollars.
Employee who thought the people at the meeting were real sent $25.6 million to fraudsters
According to the Hong Kong police, the fraudsters tried to prevent the company from operating in the United Kingdom. CFO (Financial Affairs Manager) He reached out to the employee, saying they were some managers, including. Then he went on a video call. Fraudsters pretended to be the CFO and other executives using deepfake images during this meeting. The employee, who was initially suspicious, could not understand that the images were fake and thought they were really his managers.
During the meeting, the fraudsters asked the employee to introduce himself first. Afterwards, he said it was an emergency and transferred it to 5 bank accounts. $25.6 million They asked him to send it. He sent the money after the meeting was over. The employee became aware of the situation when he made checks within the company a week later. Fraudsters were likely able to create deepfakes using video clips of these executives.
Police announced that they have arrested six people in connection with the incident so far. It was revealed that those involved in the incident committed 8 identity thefts, applied for 54 bank accounts and 90 loans in 2023. It was also determined that they used deepfake images to deceive facial recognition software at least 20 times.
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The fact that the employee does not realize that the people in front of him are fake does not reflect how realistic and deepfake images are. dangerous It’s an indication that you’ve become something. We have recently seen fake obscene images of the famous singer Taylor Swift spread on social media. So such events will probably continue unabated.