Camy Tam
A 25-year-old local man reported to the police recently that he was cheated out of HK$12,050 in an online loan scam last month, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai said at a press conference on Monday.
According to Lou, the victim told the police that he saw an advertisement on his Facebook page on August 11 offering a personal cash loan, which required him to provide his Macau ID number, bank account details, salary proof, payment of a “lawyers fee” of HK$8,000, a “handling fee” of HK$2,000, and repayment within a year.
The victim contacted the purported loan company via WhatsApp to borrow HK$50,000 and filled in his personal details. Afterwards, the “customer service” contacted him and told him to pay the HK$8,000 lawyers fee and HK$2,000 “interest”. After following the instructions to transfer the money to a designated account, the “customer service” asked the victim to go to a lawyer’s office in Nape to complete the loan formalities.
However, the victim was unable to meet anyone there. After contacting the “customer service”, he was told to pay an additional “handling fee” of HK$2,050. The victim transferred the additional amounts but never received his “cash loan”. The victim then decided to cancel the loan application and asked for a refund. However, the “loan company” refused his request and the victim finally realised that he had been defrauded. He decided to report the case to the police having a total loss of HK$12,050, Lou said.
