Latest phone scam sees victims threatened over fake pregnancies

Telephone con artists have found a new way to dupe vulnerable people - usually elderly ones - out of their money.

In the past, they have posed as police and debt collectors to deceive people into paying to help relatives out of phoney trouble.

Now they are posing as the father or boyfriend of a woman who they claim has been made pregnant by the victim's son.

"The victims were told that their son would be beaten to death if they refused to pay or compensate," Chief Inspector Dennis Luk Hoi-ho said.

He said fraudsters usually demanded HK$200,000 at first, but this would be lowered to about HK$100,000 after negotiation. The scammers then demand that the money be left in places such as parks or busy roadsides, avoiding bank accounts - which are easy for police to trace.

Although the success rate is low, at least one elderly woman who does not even have a son has been duped recently.