Teen Loses HK$3.5mn As Phone Scams Surge

A teen from the mainland lost over HK$3.5 million to phone scammers as Hong Kong saw a surge in such fraud cases, with victims losing at least HK$34 million in the first three months of this year.

Police said they handled more than 120 phone scam complaints in the first quarter of 2019 – up 40 percent from the same period a year ago – while the total amount of money involved jumped sixfold.

Officers many scams were perpetrated by fraudsters who pretended to be mainland officials.

In the most serious case, a 19-year-old woman was cheated out of HK$3.5 million in March, after scammers told her she's at risk of being arrested across the border.

The swindlers asked her to pay so-called ‘guarantee money’, saying this would help prove her innocence.

The victim was asked to create a new bank account to put the money in, and she was then tricked to hand over the online password.

Chief Inspector Tam Wai-shun said this is a new trick that fraudsters employ now.