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High reported severity Investigation Opened

Fuzhou, China: police say a company head sent 4.3 million yuan after a WeChat video call in which AI face-swapping imitated a friend

Police in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, said in a statement published in May 2023 that on 20 April 2023 the legal representative of a technology company in Fuzhou, Fujian, received a WeChat video call from someone who appeared to be a friend and asked to route a 4.3 million yuan tender deposit through the company's account; trusting the video call, he transferred 4.3 million yuan in two payments. The police said the fraudster had used AI face-swapping to pose as the friend. At Fuzhou police's request, Baotou police and a local bank stopped 3.3684 million yuan within about ten minutes; 931,600 yuan had been moved on and was being pursued.

AI system
Unidentified video tool
Occurred
20 Apr 2023
Reported
8 May 2023
Event location
China
What the AI did
Communicated with the person · Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Financial Loss
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Finance · Work · Relationships
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources
4 claims: 4 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: AI face-swapping used in a WeChat video call to impersonate the victim's friend, according to Baotou police (tool not identified)

What Happened

The police account. The Baotou Public Security Bureau's telecom and network crime unit said that at about 11:40 on 20 April 2023 the legal representative of a Fuzhou technology company was contacted by WeChat video by someone who appeared to be a friend. After a short chat, the caller said a friend needed a 4.3 million yuan tender deposit routed through a company account, sent a screenshot of a supposed transfer, and the company head, trusting the video call, paid 4.3 million yuan in two transfers at 11:49 without checking that money had arrived. When he then phoned the real friend, he learned he had been deceived; the police said the fraudster had used AI face-swapping to pose as the friend.

The interception. At 12:21 Baotou police received a request from Fuzhou police because the receiving account was at a Baotou bank. Working with the bank, they stopped 3.3684 million yuan within about ten minutes and passed information on the remaining 931,600 yuan to Fuzhou police; both forces were pursuing it.

Other reporting. The Shanghai Observer reported that the fraudster did not add the victim from a lookalike account but called from the friend's own WeChat account, which it said was very likely stolen by technical means, and quoted a Baotou anti-fraud officer describing how AI can synthesise realistic fake audio and video from small samples.

Reported harm

According to Baotou police, a Fuzhou company head transferred 4.3 million yuan after a WeChat video call with an AI face-swapped imitation of a friend; 3.3684 million yuan was intercepted and 931,600 yuan was still being pursued.

Outcome

Ongoing

Baotou police and the bank intercepted 3.3684 million yuan; police in Fujian and Baotou were pursuing the remaining 931,600 yuan when the statement was published. No arrest is reported in the sources read.

What remains unknown

  • Which AI tool was used and how police established the face swap.
  • Whether the remaining 931,600 yuan was recovered.
  • Whether anyone was arrested or charged.
  • How the friend's WeChat account came to be used.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Baotou police, who handled the interception of the funds with Fuzhou police, said the fraudster used AI face-swapping to pose as the victim's friend on the WeChat video call that led to the 4.3 million yuan transfer (police WeChat post relayed by Secrss). The faked friend spoke to the victim and asked for the money (communicated_with, depicted_or_impersonated). The police do not disclose how the face swap was established or which tool was used, and the Shanghai Observer reports the friend's real account was probably hijacked as well.

4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported Baotou police said that on 20 April 2023 the legal representative of a Fuzhou technology company was contacted by WeChat video by someone posing as a friend and transferred 4.3 million yuan in two payments; when he phoned the real friend he learned the friend had made no such request, and the police said the fraudster had used AI face-swapping to impersonate the friend.

Causal attribution. Police attribution of the deception to AI face-swapping.

  • secrss.com(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '4月20日11时40分左右，福州市某科技公司法人代表' and '于11时49分先后分两笔把430万元给对方打了过去。' and '对方通过智能AI换脸技术，佯装成好友对他实施了诈骗。'
Reported Baotou police, asked by Fuzhou police, worked with the bank to intercept 3.3684 million yuan within about ten minutes and passed information on the remaining 931,600 yuan to Fuzhou police; both forces were pursuing it.

Causal attribution. Police account of the recovery.

  • secrss.com(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '仅用时10分钟，就将该诈骗账户内的336.84万元被骗资金成功拦截' and '向福州市公安局警方提供了剩余款项93.16万元资金流出信息' and '目前，福建警方与包头警方对此资金正在全力追缴当中。'
Reported The Shanghai Observer reported that the fraudster called from the friend's own WeChat account, which it said was very likely stolen by technical means, rather than from a lookalike account.

Causal attribution. The outlet's inference about the account; it adds a second mechanism (account takeover) alongside the face swap.

  • jfdaily.com(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '骗子并没有使用一个仿真的好友微信添加' and '而是直接用好友微信发起视频聊天' and '骗子极有可能通过技术手段盗用了'
Reported The company head transferred the money because of trust in the friend and because the video chat had appeared to verify the caller's identity.

Causal attribution. Links the video call to the decision to pay.

Sources

2 sources inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in Chinese on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). Republication of the Baotou police WeChat account post (stated as from Ping An Baotou). Translated from Chinese by the research agent (an AI); no human translation. Applies to s1.

Read in Chinese on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). Shanghai Observer report, 22 May 2023, relaying the police statement with added reporting. Translated from Chinese by the research agent (an AI); no human translation. Applies to s2.

Event countries: China. Affected-person countries: China. Court countries: Unknown.

Event: the victim was the legal representative of a technology company in Fuzhou, Fujian, and the case was handled by Fuzhou and Baotou police (police statement). No court proceeding is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-22: Published as a core case (communicated_with, depicted_or_impersonated): Baotou police say a Fuzhou company head transferred 4.3 million yuan after a WeChat video call in which the fraudster used AI face-swapping to impersonate a friend. The technical basis is not disclosed. The victim is not named.

People described

The legal representative of a technology company in Fuzhou, Fujian, identified in the sources only by surname; this record omits it

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One person: the company head deceived into the transfers (police statement). The loss was on a company account; the impersonated friend is not counted because no harm to the friend is reported.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#ai-face-swap#video-call-fraud#impersonation#wechat#china#police-statement

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Fuzhou, China: police say a company head sent 4.3 million yuan after a WeChat video call in which AI face-swapping imitated a friend. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2023-fuzhou-china-police-say-company-head-sent-4-3-million-yuan-after-ai-face-swapped-wechat-video-call-from-friend

BibTeX

@misc{2023_fuzhou_china_police_say_company_head_sent_4_3_million_yuan_after_ai_face_swapped_wechat_video_call_from_friend,
  title = {Fuzhou, China: police say a company head sent 4.3 million yuan after a WeChat video call in which AI face-swapping imitated a friend},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2023-fuzhou-china-police-say-company-head-sent-4-3-million-yuan-after-ai-face-swapped-wechat-video-call-from-friend}
}

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