Hong Kong employee loses about $25 million after deepfake video call impersonates executives

A finance worker at the Hong Kong office of engineering firm Arup received a message appearing to come from the company's UK chief financial officer about a confidential transaction. After joining a video call with what looked like the CFO and several familiar colleagues, the employee made 15 transfers to five bank accounts totaling about HK$200 million, roughly US$25 million. Every other participant on the call was an AI-generated deepfake, and the fraud came to light only when the employee later checked with head office. Police described it as the first time they had seen a fake multi-person video conference used this way, and Arup confirmed it was the victim in May 2024. The company said its own systems were not compromised, as the attackers exploited trust and authority rather than technical vulnerabilities.