A 33-year-old expatriate businessman has told how HK$43,000 was stolen from his bank accounts after his drink was apparently spiked on a night out in Hong Kong.
Father-of-two Andy Clark, 33, says he blacked out for 16 hours after going out drinking in Lan Kwai Fong on a Wednesday night and later found the money had been stolen in multiple withdrawals using three different bank cards.
The incident in the early hours of May 17 follows a series of cases in Wan Chai in which police suspect prostitutes use powerful date-rape drugs like Rohypnol and GHB to render drinkers insensible and steal money from their accounts.
After administering the drug, they shoulder-surf the victim at ATM machines and then later use their bank cards to make multiple withdrawals at other ATMs with no CCTV cameras.
Many victims, often married professionals, remember nothing of the events and do not report the crimes out of embarrassment.
Clark, a British corporate trainer who has lived in Hong Kong for four years, had just returned from Shanghai and met a pilot friend for a meal and drinks.