Six people were arrested in Hong Kong accused of making loan applications using deepfake technology and drefrauding banks and financial services companies of HKD 200,000.

According to police, the group stole at least eight ID cards and used them to open 54 bank accounts between September 2022 and July 2023. Then they applied for up to 90 loans from 20 banks and financial institutions, four of which were approved. 

Police say the group once succeeded in using a face swap program to spoof a bank’s facial recognition authentication process, though it was not clear how many attempts were made. 

It was thought to be the first known instance of scammers using stolen ID cards and deepfake technologies to defraud financial agencies in Hong Kong.