Phone scam targets Hongkongers, exploits rocky relations between China and Philippines
Post also learns overseas-based syndicates cheated city residents out of more than HK$340 million from last July to March
Crime bosses behind an Asia-wide phone scam racket that has fleeced hundreds of Hongkongers out of HK$350 million in less than a year have shifted their operations to the Philippines as the regional law enforcement noose tightens.
Police sources said the move was an attempt to secure “political cover” as the gangs believed frosty Sino-Philippines relations would hinder mainland officers in cooperating with their counterparts in Manila against them.
Police sources told the Post scammers had set up call and command centres in the Philippines and were still raking in cash from Hong Kong victims.
The move followed a massive crackdown led by mainland police against overseas-based phone scam groups across Asia.
Since October, mainland police have sought help from overseas officers to nab several scam gangs in Indonesia, Cambodia and other nearby countries.
“Intelligence indicated the syndicate [based in the Philippines] is one of the major active phone scam rackets to target Hongkongers,” a source said.
The syndicate’s masterminds and core members were understood to be from Taiwan. To avoid detection, they did not hire locals, recruiting instead from Taiwan and the mainland. Participants pocketed 5-10 per cent of what they duped victims into paying.
Victims are typically told a parcel they had posted was problematic and violated mainland laws. They are then transferred to someone claiming to be mainland police.
Victims are told to prove their willingness to cooperate by sending money to a mainland bank account for investigative purposes. Most victims realise they have been cheated after finding their bank accounts depleted.
Latest police figures showed that in April such scams duped 26 people in Hong Kong into paying more than HK$11 million.
Between July last year and March, the overseas-based syndicates cheated Hongkongers out of more than HK$340 million.
The city’s biggest victim, a 53-year-old businessman, lost more than HK$58 million over five months. He got a call in October, later realised he was cheated, and sought help in March.
Police said half the victims were new immigrants, students and workers from the mainland.
Another source hoped the Philippines-based syndicate would be cracked after the country’s president-elect, Rodrigo Duterte, improved relations with the mainland.
Ties between the two countries worsened sharply throughout the six-year term of sitting president Benigno Aquino, with conflicting claims to parts of the South China Sea, one of the world’s most strategically important waterways.
