October 17, 2024
By Our Correspondent
Hong Kong authorities have successfully dismantled a sophisticated romance scam involving deepfake technology, which resulted in the defrauding of individuals to the tune of approximately $46 million through deceptive cryptocurrency investments. According to a report from the local news outlet DotDotNews, law enforcement focused on a multinational cryptocurrency romance scam that impacted victims in Hong Kong, Singapore, mainland China, and other areas.
The operation was orchestrated by a fraud syndicate that employed deepfake techniques to mislead potential victims. In the course of the investigation, 27 individuals were arrested, including university graduates and suspected members of the Sun Yee On triad.
These individuals are believed to have played a role in the operation by establishing fraudulent trading platforms that tricked victims into investing in non-existent cryptocurrency schemes. Romance scams, often referred to as pig butchering scams, involve scammers posing as romantic partners to build trust with their targets.
They ultimately convince these individuals to invest in fake cryptocurrency opportunities that promise substantial returns, only to vanish with the invested funds. Reports from late February indicate that the value of cryptocurrency transactions associated with such scams has surged to 85 times higher than in 2020, with revenues doubling from 2022 to 2023.
Fraudsters in Hong Kong employed AI-generated images of women to establish online romantic connections with unsuspecting men. These victims were led to believe they were investing in legitimate cryptocurrency platforms, only to later discover that they were unable to withdraw their funds.
Senior Superintendent Fang Chi-kin, who leads the New Territories South regional crime unit, noted that victims were misled even during video calls, as deepfake technology was used to manipulate the scammers’ appearances and voices to mimic women.
The victims were further encouraged to invest in cryptocurrency through these fraudulent trading platforms, where they were presented with fabricated transaction records that suggested profitable returns on their investments. Previous reports indicated that some of these scam operations had even developed custom fake investment applications. “They engaged in discussions about future plans with the victims, fostering a false sense of security to promote ongoing investments,” Fang remarked.
The fraudsters structured their operations into distinct roles, including scam execution, technical support, and accounting. Recruits, often recent university graduates, were tasked with managing English-speaking or Mandarin-speaking victims and were equipped with training manuals focused on building trust, particularly in relation to investments.