Deepfake Fraud: Cheated Out Of Rs 200 Crore In A Zoom Conference By Pretending To Be An Official

Deepfake Fraud: Following the release of deepfake images and videos, a significant scam using deepfakes has surfaced. An very cunning cybercriminal staged a Zoom conference purporting to be from a private corporation in order to defraud the company of Rs 200 crore.

Deepfake Fraud

Recently, deepfake photo-videos of politicians and movie stars have been noticed. However, things have moved forward a little lately. Deepfakes are being used by cybercriminals as a means of deceiving people. Deepfakes caused a multinational corporation based in Hong Kong to lose lakhs of money. The thieves set up a trap that the workers of the firm were unaware of, causing the corporation to lose almost Rs 200 crore. A Zoom conference was organised by criminals to use deepfakes for fraud.

Deepfake Technology

Deepfake technology was used to accomplish this fraud with great skill. Hong Kong Police reportedly told the media that the video conference was staged, with fictitious attendees, by tricking the company’s staff. In other words, only the victimised workers attended these meetings, since the perpetrators used deepfakes to generate phoney persons.

Deepfake Fraud: This Is How The Event Transpired

To carry out this occurrence, cybercriminals have used a great deal of intellect. With the use of deepfakes, they altered the audio and video recordings of the company’s online staff members. The corporation even produced a deepfake replica of its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) by cloning him.

Captured Via The Dissemination Of Phishing Emails

A phishing mail was sent to a worker in the company’s finance department. This correspondence, which purported to be from a CFO in the UK, discussed carrying out a covert transaction. The worker was a bit dubious about this message, however.

But the employee was duped after taking part in a group video chat. The victim was coerced into obeying orders by the deepfake firm personnel who seemed to be present throughout the conversation.

200 Crore Deepfake Fraud

He made 15 transfers totaling $25 million (about Rs 200 crore) to five distinct Hong Kong bank accounts. This is most likely one of the largest deepfake scams ever perpetrated. While the police are looking into this, no one has been taken into custody as of yet.

A company loses over Rs 200 crore in a deepfake scam!#deepfake https://t.co/PNZwFnnMXt

— Business Today (@business_today) February 5, 2024

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