Victim loses at least $4.9m in scam involving deepfakes of PM Wong, government officials - The…

A person in Singapore was scammed out of at least $4.9 million after being lured into a virtual meeting with deepfake impersonations of senior government officials. The victim believed they were interacting with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and other officials.

What happened

The victim was invited to a Zoom video conference that appeared to include PM Lawrence Wong and other local and overseas government officials. The appearances of PM Wong and the officials were created using deepfake AI technology. The scam began with fraudsters impersonating senior government officials and informing the victim they were to attend a virtual meeting. The victim was asked to provide an e-mail address to receive a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and furnish a copy of their identification cards. In this case, the victim received a WhatsApp message with the profile photo of Mr Wong Hong Kuan, telling him to attend a meeting with PM Wong, as well as an e-mail requesting urgent funding assistance relating to the situation at the Strait of Hormuz. The e-mail included what appeared to be an official government-issued letter of guarantee bearing PM Wong’s signature, stating that the funds would be reimbursed. After the meeting, the victim was contacted via WhatsApp and transferred the money through a series of transactions to a corporate bank account supplied by the scammers. He later realized he had been scammed and contacted Mr Wong Hong Kuan.