Two local elderly women have separately fallen victim to “fake police” scams, resulting in losses of HK$4.28 million and one million patacas respectively, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong said at a regular press conference on Monday.
According to Chong, the two victims received calls from someone claiming to be a staff member from “China Telecom” or a mainland police officer in October. The callers alleged that a large number of fraudulent messages had been sent from the victims’ respective mainland phone numbers.
Believing the calls to be genuine, one of the victims followed the scammers’ instructions and transferred HK$4.28 million to a designated Hong Kong bank account for “asset review”. The victim soon lost contact with the scammer and reported the case to the police.
According to Chong, the second victim was instructed to create a new bank account under the scammer’s “supervision.” The victim then transferred 1.7 million patacas to the newly created account. Later, the victim discovered that one million patacas had vanished from her new account and immediately contacted the police for assistance.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong looks on during Monday’s press conference. – Photo: William Chan
