A male and a female civil servant reported to the police this week that they had been cheated in separate online scams out of over HK$266,000 in total, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said at a press briefing yesterday.
According to Ho, a local man in his thirties reported to the Judiciary Police on Tuesday that he had been cheated in an online gambling scam out of more than HK$260,000. He told the police that in the middle of last month he came across a gambling online app which offered HK$88 as a cash gift for opening an account. The victim signed up and deposited HK$14,000 to gamble, resulting in winnings of HK$7,000 which he was able to withdraw.
Ho said the victim continued gambling but when he wanted to withdraw cash, he was notified by the purported customer service that he had to deposit HK$100,000 in order to withdraw money from the account. The victim deposited HK$100,000 in several transfers last Tuesday to a bank account in Hong Kong. The “customer service” told him that he would be able to withdraw money after 24 hours. During the period, the victim discovered by chance that the app had wrong odds, and he took advantage of the errors and “won” more than HK$1 million within a night.
When the victim wanted to withdraw money the next day, the “customer service” told him that he had to deposit more than HK$153,000 as “tax” in order to withdraw money, so he deposited the amount accordingly. However, the “customer service” told him that his account had been frozen because of “dishonesty”. He was told to pay a guarantee deposit of HK$110,000 to unfreeze the account. The victim finally realised that he had been defrauded and reported the case to the police, according to Ho.
‘Express loan’ scam
Meanwhile, a female victim in her forties reported to the police early yesterday that she came across an advertisement of an “express loan” (極速貸) app on July 11. As she needed cash urgently, she filled in her personal information to apply for a HK$50,000 loan. The purported customer service told her to pay HK$6,000 for various fees including a lawyer’s fee. After she deposited the money into a local bank account, she was told to go to a commercial building in Nape on July 19 to sign the loan documents, Ho said.
However, there was no one there when the victim arrived at the location and contacted the purported customer service staff who told her that they required a guarantor. The victim felt troubled and told the “customer service” to cancel the loan application and asked for a refund. When the victim immediately after the request lost contact with the “customer service” she realised that she had been defrauded and reported the case to the police, according to Ho.
