Avoiding scams using artificial intelligence (AI) has become a heated discussed topic on China’s social media platform Weibo on Monday, after police in Baotou, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region recently released a typical AI scam case in which the scammer used AI technology to create a fake face and voice in a video call, tricking the victim out of 4.3 million yuan ($611,000).
The victim surnamed Guo, who owns a technology company in Fuzhou, East China’s Fujian province was cheated out of 4.3 million yuan in 10 minutes, according to the police.
The scammer made a WeChat video call to Guo on Friday afternoon, using AI technology to make him look like Guo’s real life friend.
During the video call, the scammer convinced Guo that he needed Guo’s corporate account to pay for 4.3 million yuan of deposit for bidding a project. The scammer asked for Guo's bank card number, claimed that he already transferred 4.3 million yuan into Guo's account, and sent a screenshot of the bank transfer receipt to Guo via wechat.
Trusting his friend, Guo transferred 4.3million yuan to the scammer in two payments, without verifying whether the money arrived.
“I received the video call. I verified the face and the voice. So I let my guard down,” Guo said.
After receiving the police report, the police in Fuzhou and Baotou quickly blocked the transition and successfully stopped the transfer of 3.36 million yuan. However, the rest was transferred and is now subject to retrieval efforts.
