Hong Kong police have arrested eight people on suspicion of running a scam ring that bypassed online security checks to open bank accounts by replacing photos on stolen identity cards with deepfakes incorporating fraudsters’ facial features.

Senior Superintendent Philip Lui Che-ho of the force’s financial intelligence and investigation bureau said the raid was part of a citywide crackdown on scams, cybercrime and money laundering between April 7 and 17. A total of 503 people, aged 18 to 80, had been arrested, with losses exceeding HK$1.5 billion (US$193.2 million).

Chief Inspector Sun Yi-ki of the force’s cybersecurity and technology crime bureau said officers apprehended the eight suspects on Thursday last week for allegedly using at least 21 Hong Kong identity cards reported as lost to make 44 applications to open local bank accounts.

“The syndicate first tried to use deepfake technology to merge the scammer’s facial features with the cardholder’s appearance, followed by uploading the scammer’s selfie to impersonate the cardholder and bypass the online verification process,” Sun said.

Thirty of the 44 applications were successful after the fabricated images passed through online identity checks at banks.

Half of the successful attempts involved using images created by merging the scammer’s face with that on identity cards using artificial intelligence. The rest just replaced the ID’s photo with the scammer’s one.

The bank accounts had been used to apply for loans and make purchases totalling HK$860,000, as well as launder more than HK$1.2 million of suspected criminal proceeds.