Reported by Cheng Leng and Chan Ho-him

UK engineering group Arup lost HK$200mn ($25mn) after fraudsters used a digitally cloned version of a senior manager to order financial transfers during a video conference, the Financial Times has learned.

Hong Kong police previously revealed what is one of the world’s biggest known deepfake scams, but did not identify the company involved. The FT has confirmed it was Arup, which employs about 18,000 people globally and has annual revenues of more than £2bn.

The case highlights the threat posed by deepfakes — hyper-realistic video, audio or other material generated using artificial intelligence — when used by cyber criminals to target companies or governments. 

Two people familiar with the matter told the FT this month that Arup had been the target of the scam, which Hong Kong police have classified as “obtaining property by deception”.

Read full report: https://www.ft.com/content/b977e8d4-664c-4ae4-8a8e-eb93bdf785ea