A local engineer was cheated out of over HK$1.63 million in a phone scam early this month, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Choi Ian Fai said at a regular press conference on Wednesday.
According to Choi, a local man in his forties reported to the Judiciary Police on April 19 that he had been cheated in a phone scam earlier this month out of over HK$1.63 million.
He told the police that he received a call from a Hong Kong phone number on April 3. A man told him that he was a staff member of the Public Security Department from the mainland. The man accused the victim of involvement in several fraud cases as someone had used his name and personal data to register a phone with the intent of committing fraud.
Both afterwards used WhatsApp to continue their communication.
Choi said the victim received another call from a mainland phone number from the same man on April 12 saying that he had arrived Macau. The man sent the victim a website address and told him to fill in his personal data and bank account details. The man also asked the victim to transfer all his money into one account in Hong Kong.
The victim only realised on Monday that he might be the victim of a phone scam after reading some news about this kind of crime. When he immediately checked his bank account he discovered that HK$1,630,400 had been withdrawn, according to Choi.
