A local man and a local woman have separately fallen victim to online investment scams, resulting in losses of HK$1.54 million and HK$99,500 respectively, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lei Chi Hou said at a regular press conference on Monday.
According to Lei, the two victims joined an online social media “investment” group in July and were later invited to join a messaging app group where members continuously shared their “success stories” of making a profit. Subsequently, some members messaged the two victims separately and “taught” them investment “opportunities”, Lei noted.
By late September, the two victims downloaded a mobile app provided by the scammers. The female victim opened an account and invested HK$1.54 million in it, while the male victim invested HK$99,500 in his account. Later the victims attempted to withdraw their funds but were asked by the “customer service” to pay a certain amount of “processing fees”.
Finally realising that they had been scammed, the victims contacted the police. In total, they suffered a total loss of over HK$1.6 million, Lei said.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lei Chi Hou looks on during Monday’s regular press conference.
