An engineering giant behind Apple's HQ and the Sydney Opera House lost $25 million when scammers tricked an employee with a deepfake of a senior exec
- Scammers used deepfakes to trick an employee at engineering firm Arup into handing over $25 million.
- The Hong Kong office employee believed that they were on a video call with the company's CFO.
Scammers used deepfakes to trick an employee in the Hong Kong office of a major international corporation earlier this year, costing the firm $25 million.
News of the scam was first reported in February, but the company involved was not named.
However, on Friday the Financial Times reported that Arup, the engineering company behind buildings like the Sydney Opera House and Apple's California headquarters, was the victim of the scam.
Back in January, an employee in the finance department of the company's Hong Kong office attended a video call with what they believed to be the company's CFO and other staff members.
But everyone else on the call was actually an AI-generated deepfake made using publicly available video and audio recordings, Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK reported, citing police.
Acting senior superintendent Baron Chan told RTHK that on the video call, the employee was instructed to transfer HK$200 million ($25.6 million), split over 15 transactions, to five local bank accounts.
After around a week, the employee realized it was a scam when they contacted the company's headquarters.
The investigation is ongoing, and no arrests have been made so far, the Financial Times reported.
Arup did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider but told the FT in a statement that it had "notified the police about an incident of fraud in Hong Kong," adding that the incident involved "fake voices and images."
"Our financial stability and business operations were not affected and none of our internal systems were compromised," Arup said.
Deepfakes are becoming more prevalent as advancements in AI open up new ways for malicious actors to target companies and individuals.
Hong Kong authorities have also warned people about a deepfake scam going around of Elon Musk, where fraudsters are using the billionaire's likeness to trick people into investing in its crypto software.
It's not the only time scammers have used deepfakes of the Tesla CEO to steal money. Earlier this year, a woman in South Korea said scammers used a deepfake of Musk to trick her into handing over $50,000, which she believed would be invested on her behalf. She even had a video call with someone she thought was Musk, where he expressed his love for her.
Deepfakes have also been used in romance scams, which use fake online personas to gain their victim's trust before tricking them into handing over money.