A local man was cheated out of HK$71,000 in an online “click farm scam” last week, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said at a regular press conference on Monday.
According to Lei, the local man saw a job advertisement on a social dating app in late July and contacted the advertisement. The “customer service” of the advertisement then told him to click on a designated link and open an account on the website, Lei said, adding that the fraudsters promised him that he could claim “commissions” of up to 30 percent, provided that he purchased certain items for the website’s “customers”.
Lei said the man fell for the offer, transferred HK$71,000 to a Hong Kong bank account given by the website and subsequently started “purchasing items”. After six purchases, the “customer service” asked him to “cancel the previous actions” in order to obtain extra “tasks”. After the man followed the instruction, the “customer service” then claimed that his action was a “mistake” and “upset the customers”, Lei said, adding that the “customer service” asked him to pay HK$16,500 to “make things right”.
The victim finally realised that he might have been defrauded and reported the loss of HK$71,000 to the police, Lei said.
