A local female senior citizen fell into an online investment scam several months ago after she had been persuaded by an online male friend to invest in a fake e-commerce platform, resulting in a total loss of about HK$900,000, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Wai Lok said during a special press conference on Friday.
They had never met in person.
The scam occurred this early August when the victim met the online friend user on a dating app, who persuaded her to invest in an “e-commerce platform” on the grounds that she would receive 25 percent of her investment as monthly return, according to Ho. He added that the victim, following her “friend’s” instructions to open an account on the platform, initially invested US$20,000, but later decided to increase the amount by HK$770,000, attracted by the purportedly “high monthly returns” shown on the account.
Ho said that when the victim contacted the platform’s customer service to request an additional investment, she was asked to hand over the cash to a “company employee” who would come to her home in the northern district, claiming that this was to avoid scrutiny of the relevant payments through bank transfers.
Upon receipt of the victim’s report, the Judiciary Police launched an investigation into the case and identified the “company employee” as a 30-year-old local man, surnamed Lou, who received a total of HK$770,000 in cash from the victim in three instalments, on August 16, 19 and 27, respectively.
The PJ investigation, according to Ho, also discovered that Lou had hidden the money he received from the victim at two mobile phone shops in Zape, one of which was registered in Lou’s name.
The Judiciary Police on Thursday arrested Lou and the registrant of another shop – a local man, aged 34, surnamed U – at their shops and recovered the fraudulently obtained money of HK$900,000.
Under questioning, the duo, who are friends, refused to cooperate with the police. They were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Friday, facing fraud charges involving a considerably large sum of money.
The two hooded local fraud suspects are escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers to a PJ vehicle from the PJ headquarters in Zape. – Photo courtesy of TDM
