‘Everyone looked real’: multinational firm’s Hong Kong office loses HK$200 million after scammers stage deepfake video meeting.

Deepfake technology is reaping victims in various fields: whether it is revenge porn and celebrity or large-scale scams, these artificially generated videos seem to be the most valuable resource for any fraudster. Having the ability to create ad-hoc videos, using the face and voice of unsuspecting victims, is proving increasingly fruitful, it seems.

During the first days of February, the Hong Kong office of a famous multinational company, the name of which was not shared, fell victim to a scam that was planned down to the last detail. An employee of the company found themselves forced to contact the authorities after transferring 200 million Hong Kong dollars to their interlocutors, with whom they had communicated via video call.

The scammers had previously created videos representing some prominent company figures and then used them to convince the victim to make a large transfer to some unknown bank accounts.