Cases down, losses up: Hong Kong fights phone scams as amount swindled quadruples to US$101 million
Impersonation scams accounted for the vast majority of losses, with an increase in the number of mainland Chinese students getting ensnared. One person had HK$800,000 (US$102,000) moved out of her bank account.
A file photo of a mobile phone showing an unknown caller. (Photo: iStock)
SINGAPORE: Hong Kong is seeing a surge in financial losses due to phone scams even as it logs a marked decline in the number of cases, with more mainland Chinese students in the city falling prey.
Local police said 474 phone scam cases were reported in the first quarter of the year, a 21 per cent drop from the same period last year. But the amount of money lost more than quadrupled to HK$789 million (US$101 million) from HK$195 million.
Government official impersonation scams accounted for the overwhelming bulk of losses. While there were 168 such cases, just more than a third of the total tally, they were responsible for at least HK$760 million of the money swindled, local media reported.
More mainland Chinese students in the city are also falling for such scams, pointed out Senior Inspector Lam Pui-hang of the Hong Kong Police Force’s intelligence gathering and scam response team.
A total of 39 cases involving mainland Chinese students were recorded in the first quarter of 2024, compared to 29 cases in the same period last year, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
“BRAINWASHED” BY SCAMMERS
An 18-year-old mainland Chinese victim was one of the recent cases. Identified as “Chen”, the first-year university student shared her experience at a police press conference via video call.
Chen described how she received a call from scammers claiming to be immigration authorities.
The caller had claimed that she had posted “undesirable advertisements” under her phone number registered in China and thus “violated Hong Kong laws” and would be “blacklisted”, HK01 reported.
Chen was later transferred to another caller claiming to be a mainland Chinese police officer, who said she was involved in a money laundering case. The scammer also presented her with statements from her real bank account that showed transfer details.
She was later shown an arrest warrant and an order for her bank account to be frozen. She was warned not to reveal any information as the case involved Hong Kong officials and several banks, or she would be arrested immediately.
“At that moment I was extremely agitated,” Chen said in Mandarin.
The scammer then told Chen that she would be able to “expedite” her case and prove her innocence by paying a large sum of money.
Chen, following the instructions given by the scammers, opened a new bank account and requested that her family members deposit money, HK01 reported.
At the same time, she was instructed to click on a link to download an app. Chen entered her bank account information and password into the app, which scammers used to take control of the account and withdraw HK$800,000 over multiple transactions.
The bank noticed the suspicious activity and notified the Hong Kong police’s anti-scam centre.
A team from the anti-scam centre immediately visited Chen’s residence. But the student thought the local police officers were fake.
“I was brainwashed by them (the scammers). At that time, I didn’t know who to believe,” she said.
It was only when Chen’s parents contacted her that she realised she was scammed.
“Thinking back, they (the scammers) were really good at acting,” she said.
At the press conference, Senior Inspector Lam said mainland Chinese authorities would not contact Hong Kong residents via phone under any circumstances, local media reported. He also drew attention to the police’s anti-scam helpline.
The city’s anti-scam authorities have also set up an account on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese social media platform similar to Instagram, to raise awareness of scams in Hong Kong among mainland Chinese students.
SCMP also reported that the police are working with universities and student groups to raise awareness among mainland Chinese students and their parents, informing them where they can seek help.
