A local middle-aged woman has lost HK$110,000 in a purported proxy order to buy paint, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Sio Keong said in a regular press conference yesterday.
According to Cheong, a female staff member of a security staff company received an online call on Monday from someone who claimed to be a “staff member of a secondary school” in Macau.
The caller told the staff member that the school wanted the company to provide security services and switched to WhatsApp to call her. Meanwhile the caller also mentioned that the school planned to order paint worth HK$110,000, but there was a conflict with the supplier. The caller asked the woman to order the paint on the school’s behalf instead. As she was eager to clinch the security service contract, she transferred HK$110,000 for the purported proxy order to buy paint for the school to the given Hong Kong bank account.
The victim could not reach the caller afterwards so she contacted the school. It was only then that she discovered that the case was fraudulent and reported the case to the police on Tuesday.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Sio Keong looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference. – Photo: Ada Lei
