Incident·WS-0014·Jan 2024·disclosed Feb 2, 2024 (18 days later)·in the wild·Deepfakes & fraud
Deepfake CFO on video call costs Arup $25.6M
45/100
WS-3 SeriousHarm score 55, signal score 32. Autonomy: tool (a person misused it). How the scores work.
Harm 3/5
damage actually done
Reach 1/5
who was affected
Autonomy 0/4
how much the AI did on its own
Novelty 4/5
how new the behavior was
Permanence 4/5
how hard it is to undo
A Hong Kong finance employee of engineering firm Arup joined a video conference in which the UK-based CFO and other colleagues were all deepfake recreations, and was persuaded to make secret transfers. Hong Kong police disclosed the case in early February 2024 without naming the firm; Arup confirmed it was the victim in May 2024.
Damage
HK$200M (~US$25.6M) lost in 15 transfers to 5 bank accounts
Sources
South China Morning Post, second source. Police briefing on Fri 2 Feb 2024; Arup confirmed identity on 17 May 2024.
Factor ratings and the score are this index’s judgments by a published formula; facts, dates and figures come from the linked sources. Where a lawsuit is pending, the summary reports allegations, not findings.
