Online Scams Soar Amid Covid Outbreak

Police said online fraud cases more than doubled in the first half of the year as scammers apparently took advantage of people who spent more time on the internet at home amid the coronavirus pandemic, with the youngest victim at just 12 years old and the oldest – of romance scams – at 85.

According to figures released by the force on Tuesday, blackmail over online naked chats more than doubled to 200 cases. Almost all the victims were male, and the youngest was aged 12. In total, they were reported to have lost about HK$1.3 million.

Police said there were almost 430 cases of online romance scams. The victims were aged between 15 and 85, and nine out of 10 were women. Police say total losses reached nearly HK$200 million.

Online shopping scams, meanwhile, saw a threefold increase to 4,064 cases year on year.

Half of the cases involved the sale of face masks, with losses totalling HK$70 million.

But superintendent Terry Cheung from the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau said such cases have been on the decline with people becoming more cautious and the supply of masks increasing.

In total, police reported more than 6,000 of these “technology crimes” recorded in the first six months of the year, doubling the figure from a year ago.

Detectives said many of the suspects were overseas, which made their investigations difficult. Cheung also said many victims weren't aware of the importance of keeping evidence.