Police’s commercial crime bureau hold a press conference on an operation against a local syndicate that used deepfake technology to scam victims. - Photo: Edmond So / South China Morning Post
Police’s commercial crime bureau, which conducted the arrest operation on Thursday and Friday, said the syndicate had rented two premises in neighbouring industrial buildings in Kowloon Bay to conduct their swindles, which involved approaching victims with deepfaked images of good-looking women they found online.
“New recruits would be trained to use different dating apps to fish for targets, who would usually be based in Taiwan or Asia, such as Singapore and Malaysia,” Fung said. Police said the syndicate had generated HK$34 million in crime proceeds, but the number of victims and amount of individual losses were still being reviewed.