Hong Kong banks urged to use government database to combat deepfake applications

Hong Kong banks should use a government platform to verify new customers, experts have said, after eight people were arrested for allegedly using deepfake software to alter lost identity cards to set up new accounts.
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Experts told the Post that the inability of banks to verify personal data during the application process and their reliance on photos had made them vulnerable to scammers.
'The banks themselves don't have the [identity] data of all Hongkongers. They have no way to verify all Hongkongers' faces,' said Francis Fong Po-kiu, the honorary president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation.
'If the identity card and the name are both fake, but they match, then it's possible to fool electronic verification processes.'
Last week, police announced the arrest of eight people accused of opening bank accounts using deepfake images pasted onto identity cards previously reported lost.
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The force said that 30 out of the 44 recorded attempts to open new accounts had been successful, resulting in more than HK$1 million (US$128,900) being laundered.

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