Reported AI-Cloned Voice Used to Deceive Hong Kong Bank Manager in Purported $35 Million Fraud Scheme
In January 2020, a Hong Kong-based bank manager for a Japanese company reportedly authorized $35 million in transfers after receiving a call from someone whose voice matched the company director's. According to Emirati investigators, scammers used AI-based voice cloning to impersonate the executive. The fraud allegedly involved at least 17 individuals and reportedly led to global fund transfers that triggered a UAE investigation. U.S. authorities were reportedly later asked to help trace part of the funds sent to U.S. banks.
- Date it happened
- 2020-01-15
- Organisation involved
- Cybercriminals, Scammers, Transnational fraud rings
- Product, system or model
- Real-time speech synthesis technology, Deepfake technology, Synthetic audio generation technology
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