Hong Kong police have intercepted more than HK$34 million (US$3.37 million) in fraud proceeds as part of a complex operation targeting victims through the use of artificial intelligence.

According to A a report By South China Morning Post On Saturday, the investigation also highlighted some new strategies being used by local romance scam operators.

Some centered around pretending to be wealthy single women, with conversation prompts including learning Japanese, playing golf and tasting red wine worth more than HK$100,000 (US$12,850) a bottle, according to the report.

Strategies like those were recorded in notebooks seized by local law enforcement when officers arrested 31 people.

The arrests were part of a coordinated action against a criminal gang that uses artificial intelligence to create credible images of attractive women to lure victims into romance and investment scams.

said Byron Boston, a former Dallas police officer and CEO of Crypto Track Decryption “Integrating deepfakes and social engineering scams presents significant challenges for cryptocurrency investigators and law enforcement.”

He explained that images created by artificial intelligence make criminals more convincing and allow them to carry out more detailed and complex fraud operations.

“For example, in November 2022, A Deep fake video Imitating FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried “It was used in a phishing scheme to target FTX users to attempt to drain their cryptocurrency assets.”

He also said social engineering scams are insidious "because they often involve long-term efforts to build trust with victims."

The seized notebooks also revealed that the criminal organization aimed to recruit young people looking to make quick money. They tried to convince their victims that they were accomplished women in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.

“Although these advanced methods present significant obstacles, effective cooperation and rapid action are critical to combating these criminal activities,” Boston noted.

However, these capabilities are not yet mainstream, and “many local law enforcement agencies in the US lack the tools and expertise needed to track stolen cryptocurrencies or engage in recovery efforts with international exchanges,” Boston added.

Modified by Sebastian Sinclair