A young local woman has fallen victim to a “fake police scam”, losing a total of HK$3.5 million (3.6 million patacas), Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Siu Keong said during a regular press conference yesterday.
According to Cheong, a local student received a call on July 28 from someone claiming to be a “staff member from the Kunming Prosecutor’s Office in Yunnan”. The caller alleged that her mainland bank account was involved in multiple telecommunications fraud cases and requested her cooperation for an investigation by video link
During the call, the caller instructed the victim to transfer funds to a designated bank account in Hong Kong for a “funds review”. To obtain the money, the victim misled her family by claiming she was going to study in the UK. Between August 7 and 12, she transferred money to the designated account multiple times, resulting in a total loss of HK$ 3.5 million.
Recently, the caller sent a document pretending to be from the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), claiming that the victim was involved in other cross-border crimes and needed to pay additional funds for a further “funds review”. The victim noticed that the document was written in simplified Chinese characters and contained several errors.
Suspecting she had been scammed, the victim reported the total loss of HK$3.5 million to the police on Friday.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Siu Keong looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference. – Photo: Ada Lei
