appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Adam Au

Felicia Feiran Chen

In January 2023, Arizona resident Jennifer DeStefano picked up a call from an unknown number, assuming it was the doctor’s office. Instead, she heard someone who sounded like her daughter crying as a man shouted in the background: “Lay down and put your head back.”
“Mom, these bad men have me. Help me! Help me!” she thought she heard her daughter plead. DeStefano bargained with the caller, who demanded US$1 million, but eventually settled on US$50,000.
Before the exchange of money, another parent warned DeStefano that this could be an AI scam. Eventually, DeStefano was able to reach her daughter, who confirmed she was safe. The entire ordeal, which DeStefano testified about before a US Senate judiciary committee, turned out to be an AI-generated hoax. DeStefano believes her daughter’s voice had been cloned using synthetic audio technology.
The American mother’s nightmare is now becoming a reality in Hong Kong. As one of the world’s most digitally connected cities, Hong Kong faces similar threats from increasingly powerful AI deception. Our city is no stranger to online scams. According to official statistics, deception caused residents to lose HK$8.52 billion (US$1.1 billion) in the first 11 months of 2024 alone.
AI has created a dangerous new frontier, supercharging online scams by enabling the cloning of voices and faces with a deceptive degree of realism. This sharply lowers the cost of online deception, enabling fraud at rapid scale. The technology behind deepfakes has advanced so quickly that we lack effective tools to separate falsities from facts.
A few months ago, Hong Kong radio and television host Sammy Leung Chi-kin received a video call from a person pretending to be actress Sandra Ng Kwan-yue, who claimed that “a director had sold her to Cambodia” and asked Leung for HK$5,000 so she could “buy a ticket for a boat ride back to Hong Kong”. Though Leung was discerning enough to see through the AI ruse, many others, especially the elderly and young, might lack the technological proficiency and awareness to recognise such falsehoods.


This is particularly dangerous terrain for young people in our city. In January, the University of Hong Kong said that more than 60 students had fallen prey to scammers in recent months. Under these sophisticated scams, one involving the transfer of HK$1.8 million to a fraudster pretending to be an Immigration Department officer, students were coerced into handing more than HK$60 million in total. The number of university students who fell prey to these scams rose from a monthly average of 24 between July and September last year to 91 in October.
Deepfakes are proving more effective than crude scams, replacing prank-like phone calls with realistic and emotionally manipulative imitations of loved ones or well-known figures. While they tend to be tech-savvy, young people’s frequent digital use makes them more vulnerable as scammers employ ever more sophisticated technology to dupe them. An October 2024 report by TransUnion showed 51 per cent of Gen Z respondents said they had been targeted by scammers in the past three months.
Scammers threaten students that they will use AI to generate fake compromising images based on harmless photos taken from their social media profiles. Scammers also increasingly target single men and women with deepfake video calls to establish trust before setting emotional traps and requesting money.
The costs of these scams are more than financial. Last year, a 19-year-old student new to Hong Kong fell victim to one of these scams. The scammer convinced him that he was implicated in a money-laundering case. Tormented by guilt, he eventually took his own life. His case is far from an isolated one as around 20 per cent of scam victims in Hong Kong have reported having suicidal thoughts.


We must act to address this public safety crisis before more people fall victim to scams. Our city’s distinctive traits make us especially vulnerable. The high population density enables scammers to swiftly shift between online deception to getting physically close to their targets.
Our position as a global financial hub creates lucrative targets. The multicultural, multilingual milieu cloaks voice or linguistic inconsistencies, muffling the very cues that might otherwise raise alarm.
While the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau is adapting, the spike in digital crimes reveals more countermeasures are needed. Without a widespread awareness campaign on the dangers of AI-generated synthetic media, many will continue falling prey to scams. Beyond public education, parents and legal guardians should regularly check in with their children while schools must integrate AI literacy into their curriculum.
Escaping the dangers of deepfakes requires weaving together policy, education and technology into a rope that pulls society to firmer ground.




As Plato warned in his allegory of the cave, we can no longer simply trust the shadows dancing on the wall. We must develop the wisdom to distinguish between artificial echoes and the voice of truth. In a post-trust era where anyone’s face or voice can be pilfered, Hong Kong must lead in reimagining safety for the AI age.
Our city has thrived on adapting to technological change, but this adaptation now requires us to question what we see and hear, even from those we believe we know. Just as spam flooded our inboxes, deepfakes will eventually clog our existing communication channels if we don’t put up filters against this debris.
The virtual and physical worlds are now inextricably linked. Securing our future requires a collective awakening to the dangers of synthetic media and a commitment to building a more discerning, resilient community.


Hong Kong woman, 80, loses HK$6 million to fake online investment expert

Nearly 50% rise in drug seizures by Hong Kong customs in first half of year

Hong Kong customs seizes 13kg of suspected ketamine at airport, man arrested

Murder trial of slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi’s former relatives to begin

Crime in Hong Kong

Hong Kong must lead in reimagining safety for the AI age

According to official statistics, deception caused Hong Kong residents to lose HK$8.52 billion (US$1.1 billion) in the first 11 months of 2024 alone, often in scams enabled by artificial intelligence. Photo: Shutterstock

Over 70% of executives in Hong Kong expect an increase in cybercrime in 2025: Kroll

A view of Hong Kong island and Kowloon from The Peak. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Hong Kong fights back against rising scams with ‘despicable banana’

A video showing the “despicable banana”, a new villainous mascot representing online scammers, has been released by the HKMA. Image: HKMA

A video showing the “despicable banana”, a new villainous mascot representing online scammers, has been released by the HKMA. The pronunciation of banana in Cantonese is the same as the word for falling into the traps of scammers. Image: HKMA

The “despicable banana” appears at first as a cute and trustworthy figure before revealing its true, monstrous identity. Image: HKMA

36 men in China buy ‘love nest’ with US$140,000 mortgage, then realise they have same lover

A scamming woman in China has tricked dozens of men into spending US$140,000 on a “love nest” only to disappear as soon as the deal is done. Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock

The properties involved were housed within two residential blocks in southern China. Photo: Weibo

The “virtuous, perfect girlfriend” and one of her numerous scammed victims. Photo: Weibo

Opinion

Hong Kong Opinion

News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime

AI has created a dangerous new frontier. The city needs urgent action to protect residents from falling victim to predatory scams


AI has created a dangerous new frontier. The city needs urgent action to protect residents from falling victim to predatory scams.


Financial crime

Scams and swindles

Artificial intelligence (AI)

5050

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Hong Kong must lead in reimagining safety for the AI age

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}AI has created a dangerous new frontier. The city needs urgent action to protect residents from falling victim to predatory scams

AI has created a dangerous new frontier. The city needs urgent action to protect residents from falling victim to predatory scams