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Mia Castagnone

Scammers have published a fictitious article with the appearance of a South China Morning Post story and a reporter’s byline to promote two online financial trading tools.
The fake article, hosted on a non-existent website and circulated on social media, featured fictitious excerpts of an interview with Hong Kong movie star Donnie Yen by the US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
In the fake interview, reference was made to the online trading apps, which purportedly have addresses in Singapore. The article also suggested an editor at the Post had successfully used the trading platform.
The report is categorically fake, the Post said.
The images embedded in the article were screenshots of a real interview between Yen and Kimmel, which took place in March 2023, when Yen was promoting his role in the movie John Wick: Chapter 4.

A similar incident occurred in 2022, when scammers created a fake news report claiming Tesla boss Elon Musk had launched an investment scheme specifically for Hong Kong people, which also used the Post’s logo, design and a reporter’s byline.
The fake article was attributed to one of the company’s business reporters, and cited support from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Hang Seng Bank for the “digital platform”.
All clicks within the sites are directed to the online platform which asks users to sign up for its investment plans.
Hong Kong saw financial investment scams surge 55 per cent in the first quarter of the year, resulting in losses of more than HK$900 million (US$115 million), according to the city’s police force.
The Commissioner of Police, Raymond Siu, said scammers typically lured victims by depositing a small sum of money into their accounts, leading the user to believe the deposit was genuine profit.
The surge in scams has prompted the city’s de facto central bank to step up its cooperation with police through the exchange of intelligence, as well as identifying suspicious transactions and implementing mechanisms to prevent the flow of illicit funds.
Recently, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority was used in deepfake instant messages to swindle unwary residents. The incident prompted the HKMA’s deputy CEO Arthur Yuen to jump in to educate people about such risks.
The number of scams reported in Hong Kong last year rose by 40 per cent to 39,824, compared with 2022, and involved more than HK$9 billion (US$1.2 billion), nearly double the amount in the previous year, the Hong Kong police said in February.


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Scam alert: fake Post article featuring Hong Kong movie star Donnie Yen promotes online trading tools

Hong Kong actor Donnie Yen featured in the fictitious article promoting financial investment apps. Photo: AFP

Financial scammers are using SCMP’s story template to create a deepfake post to promote an online financial trading tool, purportedly based in Singapore. Photo: Post Handout

‘Everyone looked real’: multinational firm’s Hong Kong office loses HK$200 million after scammers stage deepfake video meeting

Criminals used deepfake technology to scam a multinational company out of HK$200 million by digitally recreating its chief financial officer. Photo: Shutterstock

(From left) Associate vice-president at Hong Kong College of Technology Sam Lam; acting superintendent at the Cyber Security and Technology and Crime Bureau Baron Chan; and Senior Inspector Tyler Chan. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Deepfake technology allows for face swapping and matching of facial movements with a different person. Photo: Shutterstock

Hong Kong police arrest 6 in crackdown on fraud syndicate using AI deepfake technology to apply for loans

Police say the case is the first known instance of scammers using deepfakes to deceive financial agencies. Photo: Warton Li

Superintendent Dicken Ko says the case has prompted police to remind financial institutions to upgrade anti-fraud measures. Photo: Handout

China steps up crackdown on ‘misleading’ AI-generated content, ‘troubling phenomena’

A new campaign to police the internet in China follows last year’s regulations on the use of deep synthesis technology, which require service providers to ensure that doctored content using the technology is “explicitly” labelled if it could confuse or mislead the public. Image: Shutterstock 

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The fake article featured fictitious excerpts of an interview with Yen by the US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel
The article suggested an editor at the Post had successfully used the trading platform


Scammers have published a fictitious article with the appearance of a South China Morning Post story and a reporter’s byline to promote two online financial trading apps.
