Deepfake romance scam raised $46 million from men across Asia, police say

() – She seemed like a beautiful woman, and in the minds of men across Asia, the video calls they talked on confirmed that their newfound love was real.

But Hong Kong police say the men had fallen prey to a romance scam that used deep-fake artificial intelligence to lure its victims into parting with more than $46 million.

In a press conference held this Monday, the Police of the Asian financial center announced the arrest of more than two dozen members of the alleged fraud ring, which, they claim, targeted men from Taiwan to Singapore, passing through places as far away as India.

The Police reported the arrest of 21 men and six women, accused, among other charges, of conspiracy to defraud, after a raid on the gang’s alleged operations center, located in a 4,000 square meter industrial warehouse in the district of Hung Hom of the city.

The suspects, aged between 21 and 34, were mostly well educated and many of them had degrees in Technology and Digital Media, allegedly recruited by the gang after attending local universities, according to the Police. The suspects were allegedly working with computer specialists abroad to create a fake cryptocurrency platform, in which victims were forced to invest, police added.

“Deepfakes” consist of realistic fakes of video, audio and other content created with the help of artificial intelligence. The technology is increasingly being adopted by a variety of bad actors, from people who want to spread compelling misinformation to online scammers.

“Pig fattening” scams – named for “fattening up” victims before taking everything they have – are a multibillion-dollar illicit industry in which fraudsters adopt false online identities and spend months preparing their targets for fraud. get them to invest in fake cryptocurrency sites. “Deepfakes” are one more weapon in their arsenal to try to convince the unwary to part with their money.

This crime, which is often committed by Chinese gangs from Southeast Asia, is not widespread in Hong Kong, a wealthy city where the Police have been campaigning for some time to raise awareness about telephone scams following several high-profile cases in which the victims – often elderly – reported staggeringly high losses.

But increasingly realistic deepfake technology has raised the risk and put authorities on high alert.

Earlier this year, a British multinational design and engineering company in Hong Kong lost US$25 million after an employee was deceived by scammers using deepfake technology and posing as its chief financial officer and other employees.

According to Hong Kong Police, the gang’s deepfake scam often began with a text message in which the sender, posing as an attractive woman, said he had the wrong number.

The alleged scammers would then strike up online romances with their victims, fostering a sense of intimacy until they began planning a future together.

The group was very organized, divided into departments responsible for the different phases of the scam, according to the Police. They even used a training manual to teach members how to carry out the scam by taking advantage of “the sincerity and emotion of the victim,” said police, who posted parts of the manual on Facebook.

Among the steps: knowing the victim’s worldview, to create a “tailored” character; invent difficulties such as failed relationships or businesses, to “deepen the other person’s trust”; and finally, painting together a “beautiful vision” that included travel plans, to push the victim to invest.

According to police, the scam lasted approximately a year before police received information about it around August. More than 100 mobile phones, the equivalent of almost US$26,000 in cash and several luxury watches were recovered in the raid, according to police.