Deepfake Scammer Walks Off With $25 Million In First-Of-Its-Kind AI Heist

Earlier this month, a report from the South China Morning Post revealed a significant financial loss suffered by a multinational company's Hong Kong office, amounting to HK$200 million (US$25.6 million) due to scam involving deepfake technology. The scam involved a digitally recreated version of the company's CFO, along with other employees, who appeared in a video conference call instructing an employee to transfer funds.

This incident marks a first-of-its-kind involving a large sum of money and using deepfake technology to simulate a multi-person video conference where all participants (except the victim) were fabricated images of real individuals. Deepfakes utilize AI to create highly convincing fake images, videos, or audio recordings, posing significant challenges for individuals and organizations to discern real from fabricated content.

The high-tech theft has raised growing concerns over new uses of AI technology. Over the past year, scammers have been using audio deepfake technology to scam people out of money by impersonating loved ones in trouble. Get more details on this story in the original Ars Technica article.