Engineering giant Arup revealed as $37 million deepfake scam victim

A spokesman for London-based Arup told CNN on Friday that it notified Hong Kong police in January of the fraud incident and confirmed that fake voices and images were used.

“Unfortunately, we are unable to go into details at this stage as the incident is still the subject of an ongoing investigation. However, we can confirm that fake voices and images were used,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

“Our financial stability and business operations were not affected and none of our internal systems were compromised,” the person added.

Hong Kong police said in February that during the elaborate scam, the employee, a finance officer, was tricked into attending a video call with people he thought were the chief financial officer and other staff members, but they all turned out to be deepfake re-creations.

Authorities did not name the company or the parties involved at the time.

According to police, the worker initially suspected he had received a phishing email from the company’s UK office, as it stated the need to carry out an undercover transaction.

However, the worker put his doubts aside after the video call, as the others present looked and sounded exactly like colleagues he recognized.

The amount was sent through 15 transactions, Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK reported, citing police.

“Deepfake” generally refers to fake videos that are created using artificial intelligence (AI) and appear extremely realistic.

Earlier this year, AI-generated pornographic images of pop star Taylor Swift went viral on social media, highlighting the harmful potential of AI technology.

As a leading engineering consultancy, Arup has 18,500 employees in 34 offices worldwide.

It is responsible for landmarks such as the Bird’s Nest Stadium, the site of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“Like many other businesses around the world, our operations are subject to regular attacks, including invoice fraud, phishing scams, WhatsApp voice spoofing and deepfakes.

“What we have seen is that the number and sophistication of these attacks has increased sharply in recent months,” Rob Greig, Arup’s global chief information officer, said in an emailed statement.

Authorities around the world are becoming increasingly concerned about the advancement of deep counterfeiting technology and the nefarious uses it can be put to.

In an internal memo seen by CNN, Arup’s regional chairman for East Asia, Michael Kwok, said that “the frequency and sophistication of these attacks are rapidly increasing globally, and we all have an obligation to be informed and alert about how to spot different techniques used by fraudsters.”

Kwok returned to the role earlier this month, replacing Andy Lee, who announced his departure from Arup on his LinkedIn page about a week ago after 26 years with the company.