Deepfake conference call convinces Hong Kong employee to wire out $25M

Question

A Hong Kong-based worker from a global corporation transferred $25 million following participation in a video conference where every employee, including the Chief Financial Officer, was deepfaked. Initially wary due to a dubious email, the employee felt reassured during the video call with his "colleagues."

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3250851/everyone-looked-real-multinational-firms-hong-kong-office-loses-hk200-million-after-scammers-stage?module=top_story&pgtype=homepage&firstTimeRegister=true

Is it just me or are scam texts / calls exponentially increasing for everyone overall? I've been getting dozens more impersonation messages.

raspberryint · Accepted Answer

It's honestly getting out of hand, there needs to be a government mandated solution to this. If you get caught doing this it should be a felony.

HR5HR · Answer

Well, IMO this seems like an inside job to me, how does one employee not need any approvals to move $25M?

In any case, something I've found interesting too is the susceptibility of both older AND younger people to scams like this. I feel like millenials and older gen z are well equipped to deal with scams because we grew up with the internet and saw those things play out live and got the chance to see how they work.

Nowadays, older boomers and younger gen Z just don't have the wherewithal to figure it out

whoshowwhat · Answer

Just thinking of the investment to set up this scam and pulling off .. and yet the employee thought something was off, and still joined the call, saw the "faces" and "voices" ... And then transfered. There really should be dual authorisation and everyone should verify, validate and two way authenticate multi factor before signing off large transfers .

undecidedengineer · Answer

What company was it?

anongela · Answer

I'm Gen X, saying boomers and younger gen Z are more susceptible to being duped is ageist.

Deepfake conference call convinces Hong Kong employee to wire out $25M

HK$200 million lost in deepfake conference call scam in Hong Kong first

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