Hong Kong woman, 73, hands over HK$20 million in largest single phone scam take yet
PUBLISHED : Monday, 10 August, 2015, 5:11pm
UPDATED : Monday, 10 August, 2015, 6:19pm
Clifford Lo [email protected]
A suspect is arrested in connection with an earlier phone scam at Kwai Fong Estate on July 31. Hackers claim to be officials in the scams that netted HK$126 million last month. Photo: Felix Wong
A 73-year-old Hong Kong woman is the latest victim in a spate of telephone scam attempts after a con artist posing as mainland Chinese official cheated her out of HK$20 million, according to police.
The sum was probably the highest single yield for the scam, in which the culprits pretend to be mainland officials. They cheated Hongkongers out of HK$126 million last month, a police source said.
The ongoing crime spree sparked a high-level meeting between local and mainland police in Beijing today to discuss on how to combat it.
Another police source said the meeting demonstrated that the mainland authorities were very concerned about the crime.
“Telephone con artists do not only prey on Hongkongers, but they also target mainlanders,” the source said.
A team of local officers led by the police director of crime and security Lo Mun-hung left Hong Kong on Sunday to attend the meeting, which was held this morning.
Detectives from the Kowloon West regional crime squad, including superintendent Chau Hin-hung, also attended. The squad coordinates the city’s response to the phone scams.
They are to return to Hong Kong tonight.
The latest case came to light this morning when police received a call from the elderly victim at about 10.45am. A police spokesman said she received a call from a man claiming to be a mainland postal official.
“She was told the call was transferred to a mainland enforcement agency and she was then asked to pay money,” he said. The woman then transferred a total of HK$20 million into a mainland bank account in four or five payments.
“She realised that she had been cheated when she discussed with her family members,” the spokesman said.
Detectives from the Wan Chai police district are investigating. So far, no one has been arrested.
Police said the previous highest sum in the phone scam involved several millions of dollars.
Phone scam cases of all kinds were up 70 per cent to 2,371 in the first seven months this year over the same period last year, according to police.
In July, there were 838 cases in which scammers posed as mainland officials to cheat. Among the 838 reports, a total of 308 cases yielded payments.
