A Chinese businessman defrauded of more than 600,000 dollars through artificial intelligence

First modification: 05/24/2023 – 16:35

The victim, of whom only the last name Guo was published, explained that he received a video call in April from someone whose face and voice closely resembled those of a person close to him.

But that person was actually a scammer who used “artificial intelligence technology to modify his face,” according to an article published by a media outlet linked to the Fuzhou (east) authorities.

The scammer claimed as a pretext that another friend urgently needed money to pay a security deposit for a tender.

That was how he managed to convince Guo to transfer 4.3 million yuan ($610,000) from his company’s bank account.

“During the video call, I was convinced that I had recognized the face and voice of the person who was calling me, so I was not suspicious,” said the businessman, quoted in the article.

After making the payment, Guo sent a message to the friend whose identity had been stolen. And given his incomprehension, since he was not aware of anything, the businessman realized the mistake and quickly called the police.

Police ordered the bank not to carry out the transfer and Guo was able to recover 3.4 million yuan ($482,000), according to the text.

The perpetrators of the thymus were not identified.

The use of artificial intelligence, sometimes for malicious purposes, has raised suspicions around the world, especially after US company OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a conversational robot that can imitate the human voice, in November.

This interface is not accessible in China, but ChatGPT is a hot topic on social media, and Chinese tech giants are doing their best to create similar devices.