How a victim lost US$3.8 million in Singapore deepfake Zoom scam impersonating PM Wong

The Singapore Police Force has obtained footage of the AI-generated Zoom video conference that was part of a scam involving the impersonation of senior government officials, including Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, it said on Saturday.In one case, a victim lost at least S$4.9 million (US$3.8 million) in what was claimed to be funding help related to the Strait of Hormuz, police said earlier.Victims would typically receive a WhatsApp message from a scammer impersonating the secretary to the cabinet, asking them to attend a meeting with Wong.They would then be invited to a Zoom video conference – fabricated using deepfake Artificial Intelligence technology – that appeared to involve Wong, as well as other local and overseas government officials.The footage obtained by the police showed a fabricated Zoom video conference about the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, purportedly involving Wong, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, minister Indranee Rajah and representatives from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.The meeting also supposedly included foreign government officials such as Canada’s foreign minister and the senior diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, as well as private sector participants such as BlackRock and the Dubai International Financial Centre.