A Deepfake Victimized Employee Loses $25 Million in Funds of the Company He Worked For

Crypto News – An employee of a multinational firm was duped by deepfake scammers. The employee sent more than $25 million in company funds to fraudsters in an elaborate scam that impersonated multiple company executives in an online video meeting.

A Deepfake Victimized Employee Loses $25 Million in Funds of the Company He Worked For

Senior Superintendent Baron Chan of the Cyber Security Division of the Hong Kong Police Force made a statement about the incident on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK). Summarizing the scam, Chan said the process began when the employee received a fake message from the firm’s chief financial officer inviting the employee to a video call to discuss a confidential transaction. The scammers then demanded that the employee send $25.5 million in funds from 15 different transactions to five different bank accounts.

Attackers Previously Accessed Images of Executives, Chan Says

For the deepfake impersonations, Chan said he thinks the con artists used old footage of the company’s executives.

I believe the fraudster downloaded videos in advance and then used artificial intelligence to add fake voices to use in the video conference. The people in the video conference looked like the real people,

Chan

The staff member became aware of the hoax alone after speaking with the corporate headquarters. In the midst of a sharp increase in deepfake frauds in the area, the police said that this was the first instance of its kind in Hong Kong.

We want to alert the public to these new deception tactics. We can see from this case that fraudsters are able to use AI technology in online meetings, so people must be vigilant even in meetings with lots of participants.

Chan