How Hong Kong deepfake scam group taught recruits to pass as rich, single women

SCMP - Learning Japanese, playing golf and tasting red wine worth more than HK$100,000 a bottle among topics for conversation taught to recruits

Learning Japanese, playing golf and tasting red wine worth more than HK$100,000 (US$12,850) a bottle were among the topics of conversation prompts a scam syndicate taught recruits to help pass as rich, single women, Hong Kong police have revealed.

The chat-up strategies were among those recorded in notebooks seized by the force last week when officers arrested 31 people connected to a syndicate that used deepfake images of attractive women to lure victims into romance and investment scams.

Police said they had intercepted more than HK$34 million in scam proceeds as part of the operation.