Deepfake Creates A Fresh Challenge
A deepfake story coming out of Hong Kong is giving chills to the entire corporate ecosystem. A few months ago, the Hong Kong branch of a multinational company lost $25.6 million (HK$200 million) when scammers used deepfake technology to pose as the firm’s chief financial officer (CFO) in a video conference call! The fake CFO ordered money transfers, according to the police. While there are reported scams wherein one-on-one video calls tricked victims, this is a first-of-its-kind case in the city.
The Hong Kong police explained that transactions were ordered during a meeting where it was found that, except the victim, everyone present on the video call was deepfakes of real people. Scammers used deepfake technology to turn publicly available videos and other footage of staff members to develop convincing participants. “This time, in a multi-person video conference, it turns out that everyone you see is fake,” said the Hong Kong police official, as quoted by the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Even though the police haven't revealed the victim's identity, they said that the worker received the first contact message in January, purportedly from the company’s United Kingdom-based CFO and dismissed it as a phishing email. However, the talks of the need for a secret transaction continued. After the video call, the worker dismissed the doubts because other attendees had looked and sounded just like colleagues and some others he recognized! This news is just an example of deepfakes creating unprecedented headaches in the corporate world. We present this yearly special issue, advocating for more vigilance and security measures to combat deepfake frauds.
Do let us know your thoughts.