Hi-tech fraud: here are the technologies changing the face of scams in Hong Kong

Emerging technologies like deepfakes, large language models and cryptocurrencies have made fraud easier, with Hong Kong proving particularly vulnerable

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Emerging technologies have allowed for more sophisticated digital fraud that is becoming harder to detect before it is too late. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 10:00am, 9 Aug 2024

Scams powered by new technologies are on the rise and as a global finance hub, Hong Kong has proven particularly vulnerable.

The city’s police force recorded 16,182 technology-related criminal cases in the first half of the year, a 3.5 per cent increase over the same period in 2023. Losses in these cases amounted to HK$2.66 billion (US$341.1 million), according to Police Chief Superintendent Raymond Lam Cheuk-ho.

But how have scammers been able to perpetrate ever more convincing fraud? Here are the top technologies fuelling the fraud boom:

Deepfakes

Deepfakes – which use generative artificial intelligence (AI) to create videos, images or audio of a person’s likeness – are becoming increasingly hard to tell apart from real people.

With the explosion of corporate AI adoption, deepfake tools are cheaper and more accessible than ever, making it easy for criminals with little to no technical background to pull off sophisticated scams.

Deepfakes have become a global headache with a skyrocketing number of cases being reported. In the first quarter of this year, there was a 245 per cent year-on-year increase in deepfake cases detected by Sumsub, an identity verification provider.

Hong Kong Police have recorded three cases related to the technology and discovered 21 clips using deepfakes to impersonate government officials or celebrities on the internet since last year, Hong Kong security chief Chris Tang said in response to a lawmaker’s inquiry in June.

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