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Hong Kong warns of AI voice scams after WhatsApp account hijackings
Police recorded 150 WhatsApp account hijacking cases in two weeks, with losses exceeding HK$26 million, including one victim scammed out of HK$10 million.
Hong Kong police say they have recorded 150 WhatsApp account hijacking cases over the past two weeks, with total losses exceeding HK$26 million, according to SCMP Economy. The force also cited a separate case in which a victim was scammed out of HK$10 million by fraudsters impersonating his father.
In a warning posted on Wednesday, Hong Kong’s Cyberdefender platform, run by the cybersecurity and technology crime bureau, warned residents not to trust voice messages “blindly.” The alert said scammers are using artificial intelligence to imitate the voices of people close to victims after gaining access to their accounts.
The police described how attackers, once they compromise an account, message the victim’s contacts to solicit money or extract personal information. In one example, fraudsters sent a voice message telling the victim they urgently needed to transfer HK$1 million to a friend, leading the son to believe the message came from his father.
SCMP Economy reports that the Cyberdefender platform urged users to be cautious of AI-generated voice messages, particularly when requests for transfers or personal information are involved.