Hong Kong police arrest 31 for using deepfakes to scam victims

Hong Kong police have arrested 31 individuals for using deepfakes to scam unsuspecting victims. According to reports, the individuals belonged to a syndicate carrying out their crimes across several locations in Asia.

The group majored in investment and romance scams, defrauding victims across Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore. Authorities say the group has netted more than $4.3 million in criminal proceeds.

According to the Commercial Crime Bureau of the Hong Kong police, the group was apprehended in a string operation between Thursday and Friday. The authorities’ statement revealed that the syndicate rented two buildings in the neighboring industrial building, making it a base where their activities were conducted. The group also positioned their offices at strategic angles, making their operations easy, according to authorities.

Hong Kong police detail the criminals’ operations

According to the details of the gang’s operations, the Hong Kong police said that they would look for images of good-looking women on the internet. After collating the pictures, the group would make a deepfake of the images before approaching their intended target. The victims would first be lured into keeping a worthy romantic relationship with the fake online scammers.

After a while, the criminals, under the cover of the fake persona, will now introduce the victims to a sham investment scheme. This method usually works, as the scammers would have made the victims comfortable enough to part with considerable funds either by sharing fake personal information or other methods, including video calling. Police mentioned that scammers generated about HK$34 million, but the number of victims and their losses were still being reviewed.

Superintendent Fung Pui-Kei mentioned that the two buildings run shifts, where members are supposed to clock in at different times of the day. The syndicate also lured youngsters, including students, by promising to furnish them with goodies and cash if they carry out the scams. Fung mentioned that the recruits were used to find new targets based in Taiwan or South Asia. “Recruits would be trained to use different dating apps to fish for targets, who would usually be based in Taiwan or [Southeast] Asia, such as Singapore and Malaysia,” he said.

Fung highlights the use of new technologies

Fung highlighted the use of deepfake technology and how it has helped the criminals in their activities. He mentioned that they use technology to redesign the lifestyle of the picture of good-looking people that they stole on the internet. The pictures are usually designed to show the person flaunting wealth by driving exotic cars or showing off money. Another plus is pictures tying the people to several cryptocurrency events.

The Superintendent stated that the redesign usually works in the romance scam business. “They also make use of the new technology, like AI face-swapping technology, to [pretend] to be some good-looking ladies and gentlemen to induce potential victims, gain their trust, and develop into romance relationships in order to commence the romance scams,” he said.

According to the police, about HK$100 million worth of cash and assets, including luxury handbags and watches were found during the raid on their base of operations. Most of the criminals were unemployed, with only a small percentage of them being university students. The police said they have held five of them, who are believed to be core syndicate members and will be charged in court for conspiracy to defraud. Other suspects have since been released on bail.

This is not the first deepfake criminal organization to be arrested, as the police apprehended a group with the same operations last October. The group carried out major crimes in Southeast Asia, netting $46 million from unsuspecting users. The police arrested 21 men and six women while carrying out a raid on their 4000-square-foot base of operation in Hung Hom. Police said they are still carrying out investigations to determine if the two groups are connected.

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