A gang used deepfake technology to download pictures of women without permission from social media and make changes. They used them to create pictures and videos and use them on fake accounts on dating apps. DeepFake was also used to anonymize video calls. The fraudsters then lured the boys into a love trap and lured them into investing in fake asset platforms.
In this way, 31 people were arrested by the Hong Kong police on charges of embezzling about 3.4 million Hong Kong dollars (53.2 million Taka in Bangladeshi currency). This information is known from a report of the South China Morning Post on Sunday.
At a press conference, Hong Kong Police Superintendent Fang Pui-kei said young people, especially students, were lured into the operation by the lure of quick money. New recruits were trained to find targets using various dating apps. Southeast Asian countries, particularly Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia, were the main targets of this cycle. Earlier, fake women were lured into romantic relationships through online fake accounts. Then tricked them into investing in a bogus virtual asset platform.
To make the fake account look believable, this scam is designed as an account of a rich and attractive person. Photos of cars, homes and even cryptocurrency investors were also featured on the account.
According to the commercial crime department of the Hong Kong police, the main target of these members of a local gang were citizens of Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. The gang operated by renting two commercial buildings in the Kowloon Bay area.
Those arrested are between the ages of 20 and 34, most of whom are unemployed. Some of them were students. This cycle worked in two shifts.
Commercial Crime Division Senior Inspector Fong Si-wing told reporters that the accused used deepfake technology to download women's photos from social media without permission. They used them to create pictures and videos on fake dating app characters. Fraudsters have also used DeepFake to anonymize video calls.
He added, 'Fraudsters probably hire models to act for videos. Deepfake then creates content from them.'
Assets worth more than HK$10 million, including computers, mobile phones and luxury goods, were seized from two offices and the residence of two ringleaders in the raid.
At the press conference, Acting Chief Superintendent Fanny Kong Hing-Fan said, 'From the furniture and documents seized in the raid, it is believed that they have been working in these two offices for two to three months. However, in other places, this gang has been carrying out this fraud for more than a year.'
The police said that five of the arrested persons will be taken to court on Monday. The remaining 26 have been released on bail. But the investigation will continue.
