Three local women fell for an online currency exchange scam which claimed that they could exchange Hong Kong dollars or patacas into yuan at a ‘great’ rate, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a regular press conference on Monday.
Chan said two of the three victims are friends, aged 30 and 26 respectively. Chan said that the two friends on Friday last week came across a social media account promoting “excellent” exchange rates. They decided to transfer HK$6,000 and HK$2,000 respectively to a bank account, according to Chan. “After the side received the money, he or she stopped replying to their messages. Consequently the two women found the situation suspicious and reported the incident to the police,” Chan told reporters.
Chan said the third woman, who is about 20 years old, came across the same social media account to exchange patacas into yuan. Chan said that the account holder told her that she could exchange HK$100 for 90.1 yuan. She then transferred 3,000 patacas to the online banking account, according to Chan.
“The other side blocked the woman after receiving the money. The woman felt she had been cheated and reported the case to the police,” Chan said.
Chan said that despite the two cases using different payment methods to transfer the money, they all contacted “the other side” through the same social media account. Chan added that the police suspect that the culprit is either the same person or organisation, adding that the investigations into the case are continuing.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man addresses Monday’s regular press conference. Photo: Camy Tam
