Hong Kong raises alert on AI voices as HK$26m lost to…
Hong Kong police warn of rising WhatsApp hijacking scams where fraudsters use AI voice cloning to impersonate family members and solicit urgent money…
- Incident date
- Feb 2024
- Target
- an unnamed son of a victim
In early February 2024, Hong Kong police reported a surge in WhatsApp account hijackings, resulting in over HK$26 million in losses. Among these cases, one victim was defrauded of HK$10 million after being deceived by a message from someone he believed to be his father.
What happened
The attack followed a pattern of social engineering combined with emerging synthesis technology. Fraudsters first gain control of a WhatsApp account by obtaining telephone numbers and app registration codes, often through fake websites or by impersonating friends and relatives. Once the account is compromised, the attackers contact the victim's network to solicit funds.
In the specific case involving the son, the scammers utilized AI to clone the voice of his father. The impersonators sent a voice message claiming they urgently needed to transfer HK$1 million to a friend. The victim, believing he was communicating with his father, was ultimately scammed out of a total of HK$10 million. The Cyberdefender platform, operated by the Hong Kong police’s cybersecurity and technology crime bureau, has since issued a warning urging residents not to blindly trust voice messages, as attackers are increasingly leveraging AI to mimic the voices of loved ones to facilitate financial fraud.