DocumentedDeepfake Financial Fraud2024-01 (attack); 2024-05 (disclosure)Hong Kong SAR

Arup $25 Million Deepfake CFO Scam

Finance employee at Arup Hong Kong received an email appearing to be from the UK-based CFO requesting a secret transaction. Initially suspicious, he accepted a video call where every other participant (CFO and colleagues) was a convincing deepfake. Employee made 15 transfers totaling approximately 25.6 million USD to 5 Hong Kong bank accounts. Fraud discovered only when employee later contacted actual headquarters.

Loss: US$26MAI system:Unknown deepfake video and voice cloning tools

Impact

Among the largest successful deepfake video scams ever reported. Related Hong Kong investigation found stolen IDs used with deepfakes to defeat facial recognition in 20+ instances, creating 90 fraudulent loans and 54 fake bank accounts.

Outcome

No suspects identified as of late 2025. Triggered global corporate adoption of multi-channel verification protocols.

Sources

  1. Source 1CNN (confirmation)www.cnn.com/2024/05/16/tech/arup-deepfake-scam-loss-hong-kong-intl-hnk
  2. Source 2CNN (original)www.cnn.com/2024/02/04/asia/deepfake-cfo-scam-hong-kong-intl-hnk
  3. Source 3Fortunefortune.com/europe/2024/05/17/arup-deepfake-fraud-scam-victim-hong-kong-25-million-cfo/
  4. Source 4CFO Dive (Financial Times)www.cfodive.com/news/scammers-siphon-25m-engineering-firm-arup-deepfake-cfo-ai/716501/

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