Police arrest 27 for deepfake love scams totaling $360m, seizes scam-training documents

Police arrested 27 individuals for allegedly using online romance scams to trick victims into making false investments totaling around HK$360 million. The victims were mostly men from India, Singapore, and Malaysia.

The syndicate group, run by members with triad backgrounds, operated a fraudulent center in a 4,000-square-foot industrial unit in Hung Hom and offered training to its scammers. 

Police on October 9 seized over 100 mobile phones, more than HK$200,000 in cash, a large amount of computer equipment and luxury watches suspected to belong to core members of the group. 

The scammers, mostly male, contacted victims via social media, using artificially generated images to create appealing personas, often pretending to be women through deepfake technology.

Once trust was established, they presented cryptocurrency investment opportunities, convincing victims to invest large sums, showing forged trading records. Many victims realized they had been scammed only when they could not withdraw their funds.

The group recruited individuals under false pretenses of clerical jobs, with some recruits choosing to stay for financial gain. Most members, aged 21 to 34, were well-educated.

The police also seized training documents that advised scammers on how to appeal to victims, including maintaining a "billboard" to highlight top earners. 

Authorities believe the syndicate had been operating for about a year and condemned their actions as disruptive to victims' lives. The investigation is ongoing as police seek more information about the group's operations.