The 404 Media Podcast The Chinese Deepfake Software Powering Scams
10 snips
May 13, 2026 
Matthew Galt, a journalist who covered the bizarre Yu-Gi-Oh. uncut-sheet dumpster saga, joins to unpack provenance and marketplace drama. They also dive into Haotian AI, a Chinese realtime deepfake tool and how it can be bought, installed, and misused. Short, sharp stories about tech, trust, and online communities.
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Journalists Bought A Demo And They Remoted In
- Joseph bought access via Telegram and Haoqian's team insisted on remoting into a target PC to install and configure the software.
- Their technician installed drivers, disabled Defender features, partitioned the drive, and required privilege escalation during the remote setup.
Deepfakes Are Sold With Full Technical Support
- The product includes high-touch technical support so nontechnical fraudsters can deploy realtime deepfakes.
- Haoqian's technicians handle installs and tuning, lowering the skill barrier for scammers who can pay for service and models.
Real Results Depend On Head Shape And Conditions
- Early tests varied: one demo with Tom produced distorted results but a later test on Ian looked convincing enough to unsettle Joseph.
- Performance depended on head shape, lighting, Wi-Fi, and gestures like fingers which broke the model.