Skip to main content
NOPE
High reported severity Investigation Opened

Hong Kong: police say an Arup finance worker sent HK$200 million after a video call with deepfake CFO and colleagues; firm confirms fake voices and images

Hong Kong police said at a press briefing reported by CNN on 4 February 2024 that a finance worker at a multinational firm had been duped into attending a video call with what appeared to be the company's UK-based chief financial officer and other staff, all of whom were deepfake recreations, and had then remitted a total of HK$200 million (about US$25.6 million). In May 2024 the British engineering firm Arup confirmed to CNN and the Guardian that it was the company involved, that it had notified Hong Kong police in January 2024, and that fake voices and images were used. The worker was not named.

AI system
Unidentified video tool
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
4 February 2024
Event location
Hong Kong SAR 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
Work · Finance
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts
4 claims: 4 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

AI system as recorded: Deepfake video and voice recreations of the company's chief financial officer and other staff presented in a video conference call (tool not identified)

What Happened

The police account. At a press briefing reported by CNN on 4 February 2024, Hong Kong police said a finance worker at a multinational firm had received a message purportedly from the company's UK-based chief financial officer about a secret transaction. The worker initially suspected a phishing email but set the doubts aside after a video call in which the other participants looked and sounded like colleagues the worker recognised. Senior superintendent Baron Chan Shun-ching told the public broadcaster RTHK that everyone on the multi-person video conference turned out to be fake, and police said all of them were deepfake recreations. The worker remitted a total of HK$200 million, and the fraud was discovered only when the employee later checked with the company's head office. According to the Guardian, Chan said the money went to five local bank accounts in 15 transactions.

The company. In May 2024 Arup, a British engineering firm, told CNN that it had notified Hong Kong police about the fraud in January and confirmed that fake voices and images were used, adding that the incident was still under investigation. A Hong Kong police statement quoted by the Guardian said the employee was deceived of some HK$200 million after receiving video conference calls from someone posing as senior officers of the company. Arup's chief information officer said the firm faced regular attacks including deepfakes.

What is not known. The sources do not identify the tool used, the dates of the transfers or any recovery, and a police statement quoted by the Guardian in May 2024 said no arrests had been made so far. No consequence for the worker is reported.

Reported harm

According to Hong Kong police, a finance worker deceived by a video call with deepfake recreations of the firm's CFO and colleagues remitted HK$200 million to fraudsters; Arup confirmed it was the company and that fake voices and images were used.

Outcome

Ongoing

Arup said in May 2024 that the incident was still the subject of an ongoing investigation. A Hong Kong police statement quoted by the Guardian in May 2024 said no arrests had been made so far and the investigation was ongoing; the sources read report no later arrest or charge for this fraud and no recovery of the money; police said at the February 2024 briefing that six arrests had been made in connection with such scams, and the sources do not link any of them to this fraud.

What remains unknown

  • Which AI tool was used and how the police established that the call participants were deepfakes.
  • The dates of the call and the transfers; the sources date only the report to police (January 2024).
  • Whether anyone has been arrested or charged for this fraud since May 2024, when police said no arrests had been made, and whether any money was recovered.
  • Whether the worker faced any personal consequence.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Hong Kong police, investigating the fraud, said the other participants in the video call that persuaded the finance worker to remit HK$200 million were deepfake recreations of company staff, including the chief financial officer (CNN, February 2024). Arup, the company that reported the fraud to police, separately confirmed that fake voices and images were used (CNN and the Guardian, May 2024). The faked participants impersonated colleagues toward the worker and gave the instructions on the call (depicted_or_impersonated, communicated_with). Neither the police nor Arup identifies the tool or discloses the technical basis for calling the recreations deepfakes.

4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported Hong Kong police said a finance worker at a multinational firm was duped into attending a video call with what appeared to be several members of staff, all of whom were deepfake recreations, and then remitted a total of HK$200 million (about US$25.6 million).

Causal attribution. Attributed to Hong Kong police; the deepfake call is the reported means by which the worker was induced to pay.

  • cnn.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'The elaborate scam saw the worker duped into attending a video call with what he thought were several other members of staff, but all of whom were in fact deepfake recreations, Hong Kong police said at a briefing on Friday.' and 'Believing everyone else on the call was real, the worker agreed to remit a total of $200 million Hong Kong dollars – about $25.6 million, the police officer added.'
Reported According to the police, the worker first suspected a phishing email purportedly from the company's UK-based chief financial officer but set aside those doubts after the video call because the other participants looked and sounded like colleagues the worker recognised; the fraud was discovered when the employee later checked with head office.

Causal attribution. Police account of how the faked participants overcame the worker's doubts.

  • cnn.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Initially, the worker suspected it was a phishing email, as it talked of the need for a secret transaction to be carried out.' and 'However, the worker put aside his early doubts after the video call because other people in attendance had looked and sounded just like colleagues he recognized, Chan said.' and 'The scam involving the fake CFO was only discovered when the employee later checked with the corporation’s head office.'
Reported Arup confirmed in May 2024 that it was the company involved, that it had notified Hong Kong police about the fraud at the start of 2024 (in January, according to CNN), and that fake voices and images were used; it said the incident was still under investigation.

Causal attribution. The company's own confirmation that faked voices and images were used in the fraud.

  • cnn.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'A spokesperson for London-based Arup told CNN on Friday that it notified Hong Kong police in January about the fraud incident, and confirmed that fake voices and images were used.' and 'However, we can confirm that fake voices and images were used,'
  • theguardian.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'confirming that at the beginning of the year it had “notified the police about an incident of fraud in Hong Kong”. It confirmed that fake voices and images were used.'
Reported A Hong Kong police statement quoted by the Guardian said the employee was deceived of some HK$200 million after receiving video conference calls from someone posing as senior officers of the company, and the Guardian reports that Chan said the money went to five local bank accounts in 15 transactions; the statement said no arrests had been made so far and the investigation was ongoing.

Causal attribution. Police account of the transfers.

  • theguardian.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'posing as senior officers of the company requesting to transfer money to designated bank accounts' and 'the employee then transferred a total of HK$200m to five local bank accounts via 15 transactions.' and 'It said no arrests had been made so far but the investigation was ongoing'

Sources

3 sources inspected, from 2 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). CNN report of the Hong Kong police press briefing, published 4 February 2024. Applies to s1.

Read in English on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). CNN report of Arup's emailed statement, published 17 May 2024; it also recaps the police account. Applies to s2.

Read in English on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). Guardian report of Arup's statement and a Hong Kong police statement, published 17 May 2024. Applies to s3.

Event countries: Hong Kong SAR China. Affected-person countries: Hong Kong SAR China. Court countries: Unknown.

Event: the fraud was reported to and investigated by Hong Kong police, and the deceived worker was an employee in Hong Kong (CNN; Guardian). The company is London-based, which does not locate the event. No court proceeding is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-22: Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated, communicated_with): Hong Kong police said the colleagues on the video call that led a finance worker to remit HK$200 million were deepfake recreations, and Arup confirmed that fake voices and images were used. The technical basis is not disclosed. The worker is not named.

People described

Arup, a London-based engineering firm, which lost HK$200 million; the payments were made by one of its Hong Kong employees, an unnamed finance worker who was deceived by the faked call participants

People reported harmed in this case

Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

The loss fell on the company. The sources describe the finance worker as the person deceived but report no personal loss or other consequence for the worker, so no person count is given (zero placeholders).

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

Tags

#deepfake-video-call#executive-impersonation#business-fraud#hong-kong#police-statement

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Hong Kong: police say an Arup finance worker sent HK$200 million after a video call with deepfake CFO and colleagues; firm confirms fake voices and images. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2024-hong-kong-police-say-arup-finance-worker-sent-hk200-million-after-video-call-with-deepfake-cfo-and-colleagues

BibTeX

@misc{2024_hong_kong_police_say_arup_finance_worker_sent_hk200_million_after_video_call_with_deepfake_cfo_and_colleagues,
  title = {Hong Kong: police say an Arup finance worker sent HK\$200 million after a video call with deepfake CFO and colleagues; firm confirms fake voices and images},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2024-hong-kong-police-say-arup-finance-worker-sent-hk200-million-after-video-call-with-deepfake-cfo-and-colleagues}
}

Related cases

High Unidentified video tool

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.

Low Unidentified video tool

Montreal: Dr. François Marquis, chief of intensive care at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, says AI deepfake ads using his face have sold supplements and cancer cures on Facebook since at least August 2025, and that a scam victim who paid hundreds of dollars for pills that never arrived came to the ICU demanding a refund

Dr. François Marquis, chief of intensive care at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal, told CBC News (August 2025) and CTV News and CBC News (September 2026) that AI-generated deepfake videos using his likeness keep appearing on Facebook, selling joint supplements, pills and cancer cures and spreading anti-pharmaceutical claims; the latest offers $1 million to dissatisfied customers. He is not on social media and learns of the videos from people who call him. He recounts that a person who paid hundreds of dollars for pills advertised in one of the videos, and never received them, came into the ICU demanding his money back, which he describes as a security problem for the hospital. He has reported the deepfakes to Quebec's College of Physicians, Montreal police and the platforms, but says new videos keep appearing. The makers of the ads are not identified.

Medium Unidentified video tool

Bengaluru: police say a man paid Rs 1.85 lakh after a dating-app contact threatened to circulate an AI-manipulated obscene video of him

Deccan Herald reports, citing Bengaluru police, that a 23-year-old man lost Rs 1.85 lakh in an alleged sextortion scam. He matched with a woman on a dating app on 27 September 2026 and exchanged numbers; he told police that he then received a WhatsApp video call from her number lasting five to six seconds. Police said he then received an obscene video manipulated using AI and the sender threatened to circulate it unless he paid. Fearing exposure, he borrowed money from a friend and transferred Rs 1.85 lakh to several UPI IDs between 27 and 29 September as the threats continued, a police officer said. Police registered a first information report on his online cybercrime complaint and are trying to trace the suspects. The report does not say how police established that the video was AI-manipulated, and the tool is not named.

Medium Unidentified video tool

Bengaluru: a security guard says a WhatsApp video call in which an alleged deepfake 'Chief Minister Vijay' offered him financial aid led to fake 'processing' charges and a fake CBI fine, and he lost more than Rs 1.04 lakh; Byappanahalli police register an IT Act case (September 2026)

A security guard in Bengaluru, originally from Odisha, told the Times of India that on 9 September 2026 he answered a WhatsApp video call in which a face and voice presented as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay introduced himself in Hindi, asked his name, work and where he lived and pressed him to accept financial help. A 'manager' then promised Rs 11 lakh, said Rs 5 lakh had been allotted to him and asked for a Rs 5,000 exchange charge, then Rs 18,000 to unlock a supposedly locked PIN; a caller posing as a CBI officer demanded more than Rs 50,000 as a fine. The fraudsters sent a fake allotment letter and a purported CBI officer's identity proof. He paid more than Rs 1.04 lakh through a digital payment app before refusing a further Rs 50,000 demand, called the 1930 cybercrime helpline and went to Byappanahalli police, who registered a case under the Information Technology Act. The Times of India says the fraudster allegedly used a deepfake AI-generated video and calls it the first such case reported in the city. No arrest is reported, and no link to the Tamil Nadu CB-CID deepfake case or its Alwar arrest has been established.

If you or someone you know is struggling, free and confidential support is available. Find a helpline near you at Signpost.

Back to all incidents