Hongkongers swindled out of HK$136 million by online scammers in just 1 week, as police warn about internet fraud
- Police say 764 reports of online scams received last week, with losses reaching HK$136 million, as they urge public to use ‘Scameter’ tool to detect fraud
- One recent case involved rare in-person transactions with businesswoman duped out of HK$41 million worth of cryptocurrency through bogus trading platform
The force’s latest alert on its CyberDefender Facebook page said it had received 764 reports of online scams last week.
“Financial losses across all the cases amounted to more than HK$136 million,” police said, reminding residents to remain vigilant against different types of deception.
Inspector Leung Man-yee on Thursday said the fraudsters had orchestrated in-person transactions to lower the victim’s guard and trick her into going along with the scam. Police said online investment scammers did not usually meet their victims.
The 56-year-old woman fell prey after responding to an online message sent by a scammer who then convinced her to set up an account on a sham trading platform to invest in virtual currencies.
She made 44 in-person transactions with two fraudsters, later realising she had been scammed when she was unable to withdraw her money from the platform or contact the two men. She called the force on Tuesday.
Police advised the public to use the force’s “Scameter” search engine or mobile app to check for suspicious or fraudulent schemes.
The app was upgraded in February to trigger automatic pop-up reminders on users’ mobile devices when receiving calls from suspicious phone numbers or visiting dubious websites.
The search engine and mobile app are designed to help the public identify suspicious web addresses, emails, platform usernames, bank accounts, mobile phone numbers and IP addresses.
The number of deception cases rose by 42.6 per cent last year to 39,824, up from 27,923 in 2022. The amount lost rose by 89 per cent to HK$9.1 billion in 2023 from the HK$4.8 billion recorded the year before.
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Reports of online technology crimes accounted for 85 per cent of all deception cases last year. Such crimes included online investment fraud, love scams, email fraud, e-shopping swindles and employment scams.
The number of online investment fraud cases rose to 5,105 last year compared with 1,884 in 2022. Financial losses also jumped to HK$3.26 billion in 2023, up from HK$926 million the previous year.
Police handled 8,950 cases of online shopping fraud last year, a 2.5 per cent increase from the 8,735 cases logged in 2022. But the amount lost rose by 157 per cent to HK$190.5 million from HK$74.1 million the year before.
The force handled 3,518 reports of online employment fraud in 2023, a 21.9 per cent rise from 2,884 cases logged in the same period the previous year. Financial losses increased by 65.5 per cent to HK$760 million last year from HK$459 million in 2022.
