The scam played out during an online team meeting that the worker attended, thinking he was meeting with his colleagues. And one of those who was supposedly attending the meeting was the company’s finance boss.
But actually, all the people in the meeting that he saw were fake, made using new deepfake technology.
So, when the the worker got a strange message from the CFO about paying out millions, he thought it was real because everyone knew about the transaction. But sadly he was being scammed.
Senior Superintendent Baron Chan Shun-ching of the Hong Kong police explained that the worker did have some at first but was convinced everything was above board during the online call. He fell for the fake videos, and went ahead with the huge money transfer.
This scary story reminds everyone to be careful online and not to trust everything they see, especially when it comes to big money. So if you see Elon Musk telling you he wants to give you free money, beware. And if your boss tells you to empty the bank account during a Teams meeting…beware.
As technology gets more advanced, it’s important to stay cautious and double check before making important decisions involving paying out funds.