Authorities in Hong Kong arrested more than two dozen members of an alleged scam ring that targeted men from Taiwan, Singapore, and as far as India, they announced Monday, according to CNN Hong Kong.

With the use of deepfake AI, the scammers defrauded victims of over $46 million.

“Deepfakes” are artificially manipulated audiovisual material, mainly produced using an AI to create a false video of an event that never happened. 

Although fake, they can look very persuasive. They are often produced to imitate or mimic an individual and are increasingly being used to spread disinformation and facilitate online scams.

Hong Kong police stated that the recent scam occurred when scammers, using AI, posed as attractive women online and messaged their victims, claiming to have texted the wrong number, CNN said.

Big tech (illustrative). (credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)
Big tech (illustrative). (credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)
The scammers built online romances, developing false relationships to manipulate victims into sending cash and cryptocurrency.

Use of 'deepfakes' in war

Deepfakes have previously been used in the Russian-Ukrainian War and also by Hamas terrorists and their supporters in various parts of the world.  

Following the October 7 attack, Ynet reported that Hamas used deepfake technology on WhatsApp to incite terror and fear, as hackers infiltrated an account of a woman in Rishon Lezion and sent a message of distress to a neighborhood group, causing panic.