Deepfakes are not just for defamation anymore. Instead, they're now duping ordinary people and businesses alike. A case from Hong Kong raises eyebrows as a multinational company has suffered a massive $32.5 million (approximately ₹207.6 crores) loss to a deepfake scam.
This unprecedented scheme crafted deepfake videos of several company employees, targeting one in particular, and executing the scam. Let's unravel the full story.
Scammers employed deepfake technology to prey on an employee from the company's Hong Kong branch. They created fake videos featuring the company's Chief Financial Officer and various other employees, and then organized a video conference where they coaxed money transfers.
All participants in the video call, except the victim, were fake—deepfake avatars, to be exact. Scammers used publicly available videos and other footage to make every individual in the meeting appear genuine.
Source: aajtak
The fraud was reported to the police by the finance department of the Hong Kong branch. According to the police, this is the first scam of its kind in Hong Kong, involving such a grand scale of deceit. No further details about the company or its employees have been disclosed by the police. Deepfake technology has been the subject of significant media attention recently.
The scam became apparent to the victim once they followed an instructive call, during which they transferred 20 million Hong Kong dollars across 15 transactions to 5 different bank accounts.
It was after the transactions were completed and verified with the company's headquarters that the victim realized the call had been part of a scam. The concern over deepfakes started in India when a deepfake video of Rashmika Mandanna came to light. Similarly, a deepfake photo of pop star Taylor Swift went viral. Since then, there has been a global call for stricter regulations around deepfake technology.
