Hong Kong scams using AI? Police issue warning as fake clip of bank CEO tricks victim, man flags blackmail attempt with doctored sex video
- Japanese man reports being tricked by video showing ‘Hong Kong bank CEO’ describing new product
- Police urge people to look for telltale signs in fake videos, especially in eye and mouth movements
A Japanese man reported losing HK$1,700 (US$217) worth of computer game credits in May after being fooled by a fake video interview apparently with the chief executive of a bank in Hong Kong.
A 25-year-old Hong Kong man made a police report even though he did not fall for a scammer’s demand to buy HK$10,000 worth of game credits after being threatened in March with a video in which his face was superimposed on the naked body of a stranger engaged in sex acts.
The force said people should be on the alert for scammers using new ways to trick victims, while an expert who warned of a possible emerging trend noted that a single photo or mere seconds of a recording of a victim’s voice would be enough to generate fake material using AI technology.
Superintendent Chan Shun-ching, from the force’s cybersecurity and technology crime bureau, said police had yet to see scams using deepfakes, which include high-quality videos that can place people in fake videos showing them speaking or moving about in real time.
But he said technology was already being used to cause confusion, as scammers could put real people into fake video calls and recordings.
The Japanese man told police in his country that he was tricked after coming across an Instagram profile apparently of a Hong Kong retail bank chief executive, with a video of the CEO promoting an investment plan in an interview with an international broadcaster.