His Boss Asked for $25 Million. His Boss Wasn't Real.

A finance worker joined a video call with his boss and colleagues, then sent about US$25 million. Nobody else on that call was real.

This is the true story of the 2024 deepfake scam at engineering firm Arup in Hong Kong, explained simply for everyone, with today's lesson at the end.

TODAY'S LESSON: Seeing and hearing is no longer proof. 1. If someone asks for money or passwords, even on video, hang up and call them back on a number you already know. 2. Agree a secret word with your family and your team (the FBI recommends this). 3. In a business, big payments should always need a second person to approve them.

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Dramatised true story. Characters are fictional stand-ins. No real person is shown.

Sources: Building (Arup statement): building.co.uk/news/arup-named-as-victim-of-20m-deepfake-scam/5129479.article World Economic Forum: weforum.org/stories/2025/02/deepfake-ai-cybercrime-arup/ CNN: edition.cnn.com/2024/05/16/tech/arup-deepfake-scam-loss-hong-kong-intl-hnk FBI IC3 alert: ic3.gov/PSA/2024/PSA241203

Narration: Kokoro TTS (Apache-2.0). 3D animation, music and sound: original.