{"meta":{"database":"Global Social Engineering Impact Database","url":"https://global-social-engineering-impact-da.vercel.app","license":"CC BY 4.0 — attribute to Netarx Social Engineering Incident Database","generated":"2026-08-29T08:17:43.622Z","total":1,"returned":1,"limit":50,"offset":0,"next":null,"note":"Read loss_kind before summing loss_usd: only direct_loss and ransom_paid are comparable. Entries with entry_type \"benchmark\" are aggregate agency statistics and overlap with everything else by construction."},"results":[{"title":"Hong Kong arrests 31 in second deepfake romance fraud ring targeting Southeast Asia","date":"2025-01","date_precision":"month","victim_org":"Victims in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia","sector":"Consumer","country":"Hong Kong","primary_vector":"Romance / Investment Scam","secondary_vectors":["Deepfake Video Call"],"ai_involvement":"Confirmed AI-enabled","ai_notes":"The syndicate combined photographs of attractive people scraped online with deepfake technology to create and sustain fictitious personas on dating apps.","outcomes":["Wire Fraud / Financial Loss","Cryptocurrency Theft"],"loss_usd":4370000,"loss_note":"Over HK$34 million, approx US$4.37 million","records_affected":null,"threat_actor":"Hong Kong-based fraud syndicate operating from Kowloon Bay","summary":"Hong Kong police arrested 31 people on 2 and 3 January 2025 over a deepfake-enabled romance and investment fraud syndicate that operated from two premises in Kowloon Bay and took more than HK$34 million (about US$4.37 million) from victims in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Members were trained to approach targets on dating apps using online photographs of attractive people combined with deepfake technology. It was the second major deepfake fraud bust by Hong Kong authorities in three months.","how_it_worked":"Recruits worked from scripts and training materials, opening on dating apps with fabricated female personas assembled from scraped photographs and rendered live with face-swapping software when a target asked for video proof. The romance was cultivated over weeks so that the eventual investment pitch arrived from someone the victim believed they knew personally rather than from a stranger. Targets in neighbouring jurisdictions were chosen partly because cross-border reporting and recovery are slower. Funds were routed into cryptocurrency, which made reversal difficult once the persona went dark.","lessons":"Cross-border anti-fraud coordination and dating-platform detection of face-swap artefacts on live video are the two controls that materially shrink this model.","confidence":"Confirmed","sources":[{"title":"Hong Kong police arrest 31 over deepfakes used to scam victims in Singapore, Malaysia","url":"https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3293476/hong-kong-police-arrest-31-who-used-deepfakes-scam-victims-singapore-malaysia","publisher":"South China Morning Post"}],"entry_type":"campaign","slug":"2025-hong-kong-arrests-31-in-second-deepfake-romance-fraud-ring-targeting-sou","year":2025,"loss_kind":"aggregate","url":"https://global-social-engineering-impact-da.vercel.app/incidents/2025-hong-kong-arrests-31-in-second-deepfake-romance-fraud-ring-targeting-sou"}]}