Hong Kong’s newest property trap? Man scams buyer out of HK$3 million in another case of ID fraud
Force records at least 52 reports of property fraud involving more than HK$227 million since 2013
A man was arrested for his alleged role in a fraud racket in which scammers posed as a flat owner and duped a potential buyer out of about HK$3 million in deposit payments.
The unemployed 40-year-old man, a suspected drug addict, was believed to be part of a gang whose members pretended to be a flat owner selling a property in residential estate Festival City in Tai Wai for HK$9.2 million, about 10 per cent below the price of similar units, in November.
The gang collected the personal data of the flat owner before the arrested man officially changed his name to match the real owner’s. He then opened a bank account to collect a HK$2.92 million deposit from the victim in February.
His name was officially changed back to the original one after the money was obtained.
Police said the gang had produced a fake identity card carrying the name of the real owner as well as other forged documents during the process and had signed a provisional agreement for sale and purchase for the transaction with the buyer.
The buyer, a law firm and a property agent were all outsmarted.