US company duped into sending US$3 million to Hong Kong account
Scam reported on April Fools’ Day is the latest job for force’s anti-fraud team, which has handled more than HK$2 billion worth of cases since starting work in July
An email scammer duped an American company into transferring US$3 million (HK$23.5 million) to a Hong Kong bank account last month, police sources revealed on Thursday, as the amount of money in cases handled by the force’s anti-fraud team surged to more than HK$2 billion.
In the latest case, police managed to freeze the swindled funds after the IT company reported the scam on April Fools’ Day. It was the biggest amount intercepted by the specialist fraud squad since it began operating last July.
The company made the erroneous transfer on March 28, after the scammer pretended to be a business partner. Staff realised they had been duped when they checked with the real business partner over the transaction.
The firm’s representative in Hong Kong made a report at a police station on April 1. Investigators froze the account with the help of a local bank and by Thursday were still trying to trace the recipient account holder.
One police source said the account holder might be a mainland Chinese resident recruited to come to Hong Kong and open an account with e-banking services.
The Post has reported that underground money changers have been helping international fraudsters set up accounts in the city and launder the proceeds of email scams.