Cybercrook Dupes Man of 4.3 Million Yuan Using Deepfake Video

A scammer in China used deepfake AI technology to convince a man to send money to his friend, and instead transferred it to himself. The crook managed to get the man to deposit 4.3 million yuan (around ₹5 crores) to the fraudulent account.

Man Scammed By Deepfake Video

The scam took place in the city of Baotou in Inner Mongolia, and local police stated that the fraudster employed AI-based face swapping technology to pretend to be the victim's friend. The perpetrator posed as the friend and asked the victim to transfer 4.3 million yuan.

The police said in a statement that the scammer convinced the man that his friend needed the money to make a deposit for a bidding process. The man later checked with his friend and realized that he was taken for a ride when the friend denied asking him for money.

According to a Reuters report, the authorities claimed that they had managed to retrieve "most of" the stolen amount and that they were still trying to recover the rest of the funds.

Fraud Sparks Concerns Over AI Technology

The deepfake incident ignited discussions on Chinese microblogging site Weibo. Reuters states that the hashtag "#AI scams are exploding across the country" garnered over 120 million views on Monday.

Weibo users raised concerns over AI technology and how it posed a threat to security and privacy. One user wrote, "This shows that photos, voices and videos all can be utilized by scammers. Can information security rules keep up with these people's techniques?"

Since the beginning of the year, China has been working on preventing AI-driven scams which manipulate audio and video to dupe unsuspecting victims. Back in January, the government implemented new rules to protect those who fall for such scams.

Despite adopting such strict security measures, the latest scam appears to have slipped through even the Chinese government's processes. This isn't an isolated incident, however. Many phone-related scams have been cropping up worldwide. Even in India, several WhatsApp users in India have been complaining of such scams.

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