Anqing, China: police say a nine-second AI face-swap video call posing as an acquaintance led a man to transfer 2.45 million yuan
In April 2023 a man in the Anqing economic development zone, Anhui, received a brief WeChat video call from someone who appeared to be an acquaintance, followed by a QQ message asking him to advance money for a tender; trusting the video call, he had family members transfer 2.45 million yuan. The local police anti-fraud centre found that the fraudsters had used a nine-second AI face-swap video to pose as the acquaintance, Dawan News reported. Police arrested three suspects on 28 April, froze or recovered more than one million yuan, and on 22 May returned 1.32 million yuan to the victim.
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 22/10/2026