A local woman was defrauded out of HK$486,000 after trusting her online “Canadian” boyfriend who told her that he was the owner of an engineering company that specialises in deep-sea detection, and lent him HK$480,000 in total, spread over five separate occasions, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lun said during a regular press conference on Monday.
According to Leng, the victim met the “Canadian engineer” on social media platform in February last year and they soon became an online couple. During their virtual relationship, the male successfully persuaded the victim to lend him money by claiming that his “company” was in financial trouble, Leng said, adding that the scammer “borrowed” from her five times from April to September, an amount totalling HK$486,000.
Leng said last month her “boyfriend” told her that he would send her a parcel filled with tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars to “repay” her, after which she received a call from a staff member of a “logistics company” on Saturday. Leng said the “staff member” told her that her parcel had been impounded and she needed to pay US$12,867 (104,000 patacas) to retrieve it. She finally became suspicious and reported the case to the police, and then lost contact with her “boyfriend”.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lun looks on during a regular press conference on Monday. – Photo: William Chan
