Southeast Asia’s scammers’ new disguise: your leader’s face

AI Summary

Scammers in Southeast Asia have created a fake version of Singapore’s prime minister, Lawrence Wong, to deceive victims and steal money via a convincing Zoom call. The scam involved impersonation through WhatsApp messages falsely claiming to arrange private meetings.

There is a bogus version of Singapore’s prime minister that exists only to steal money. It connected to a Zoom call, thanked a stranger for his time and helped relieve him of US$3.8 million – with the real Lawrence Wong, for a time, none the wiser about what had happened. The victim had received a WhatsApp message purporting to be from the secretary to the cabinet, inviting him to a private meeting. What followed was not some doctored photo or a 15-second clip designed to fool a distracted...