A company finance director in Singapore nearly lost US$ 499,000 ( S$ 672, 000 ) last month as a result of a deep-fake technology impersonation scam.
According to SPF in a news release on Monday ( Apr 7 ), the Singapore Police Force’s ( SPF ) Anti-Scam Centre, with assistance from its Hong Kong counterpart, successfully traced and withheld the amount on March 28.
The authorities added that this underscores the value of international cooperation in tackling advanced cross-border scams.
SCAM AREAS
A scammer who purported to be the agency’s chief financial officer contacted the victim, an employee of a global conglomerate, on March 24 via WhatsApp.  ,
He was instructed to attend a video conference about the alleged reform of the fund’s local business two days later as well as to connect with an administrative partner of a law firm.
The alleged attorney next allegedly called him and” told him the significance of the project and the need for confidentiality.”  ,
According to the officers,” the victim was forced to sign a non-disclosure contract.”
The victim was informed on March 25 that the film meeting had been changed to the day of the incident.
He joined the Zoom video phone, along with, among others, a person he assumed to be the agency’s chief executive officer. According to the officers, these were fake people who were using fake systems.  ,
This type of technology enables digital transformation to produce sound or look like someone else’s information.
The sufferer was instructed to transfer more than US$ 499, 000 from the bank’s HSBC bank accounts to another regional business bank account after the video conference and later correspondence with the lawyer-impersonator.
On March 26, that move was completed.  ,
The officers added that the finance director was unaware that the account to which the money was being transferred was a cash mule account controlled by the scammers.
More than US$ 494, 000 in cash were transferred from the nation to Hong Kong banks accounts.
The scam’s victim just learned about it on March 27 when the victim requested a transfer of an extra US$ 1.4 million.
He called HSBC, which the officers said instantly called the SPF’s Anti-Scam Centre.