An elderly local man was scammed out of HK$173,000 by his online “girlfriend” and an online “lawyer” in a scam that began in November last year after the “girlfriend” had previously cheated him out of over HK$200,000 in 2023, a Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson said during a regular press conference on Friday.
According to the spokesperson, the senior citizen met a female netizen who claimed to be a “Chinese American female soldier” online in August 2023, and they became an online couple.
During their virtual relationship, the victim was scammed out of HK$200,000, but he only reported the case to the police in June last year, the spokesperson said, adding that while the case was still pending, the victim received another message from his “girlfriend” in November last year, indicating that he could get a refund of his money but had to pay a courier fee of HK$25,000, which the victim believed to be true and transferred the money.
A few days later after transferring the money to his “girlfriend”, an “Indonesian lawyer” contacted the victim, claiming that there was a problem with the courier and demanded money for a variety of reasons, cheating the victim out of HK$148,000, the spokesperson said.
The “lawyer” continue requesting money again for different reasons, the spokesperson said. Finally realising that he might have been cheated, the victim reported the case to the Judiciary Police.
Together with the courier fee, the victim suffered a total loss of HK$173,000 this time, not including the more than HK$200,000 that his “girlfriend” had fraudulently received from him in 2023, according to the spokesperson.
Image courtesy of Bernama Infographics.
