The Hong Kong Police Drive (HKPF) has dismantled a large cross-border fraud operation that used deep faux expertise to con males into phony cryptocurrency investments.
The rip-off focused males by way of faux on-line romances, with the victims reportedly being conned out of roughly $46 million.
27 Arrested in Raid on Fraud Heart
Native media stories revealed that the police recognized a bunch working from a fraud heart positioned in a Hung Hom industrial unit between August and September 2024. On October 9, the authorities raided the 4,000-square-foot facility, arresting 27 people, together with 21 males and 6 girls aged between 21 and 34.
Legislation enforcement officers additionally seized computer systems, cellphones, luxurious watches, and roughly $25,750 in suspected crime proceeds from the operation’s headquarters. The suspects had been apprehended on fees of conspiracy to defraud and possession of offensive weapons.
The fraudulent operation centered round the usage of “romance scams,” the place perpetrators posed as enticing girls to lure victims into relationships through on-line platforms. Utilizing superior synthetic intelligence-powered deep faux expertise to create lifelike interactions, the swindlers posed as fascinating girls and performed video chats with their targets.
As soon as belief was established, the victims had been inspired to put money into digital cryptocurrencies by way of what seemed to be a legit funding platform.
In actuality, the platform was faux, arrange by the prison group with the help of native college graduates recruited as digital media and expertise consultants. These graduates, together with different abroad fraudsters and IT specialists, helped create the subtle infrastructure that enabled the deception.
AI Romance Rip-off Operation
Police described the fraud heart as meticulously organized and unusually massive, with the group going so far as producing coaching manuals in Chinese language and English. These manuals instructed the cheats on methods to construct faux romances and manipulate their targets to extract cash.
Fang Chi-kin, head of the New Territories South regional crime unit, defined that after preliminary contact with victims on social media, the imposters used AI to ship artificially generated pictures depicting enticing people. Their faux personas had been rigorously crafted when it comes to look, character, occupation, and training.
Superintendent Iu Wing-kan added that when victims requested video calls, deep faux expertise was used to change their appearances and voices, main the victims to belief them fully. In line with police, many of the arrested people are males, with many coming from mainland China, Taiwan, India, and Singapore.
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