Beware of phone scammers posing as health officials, Amazon staff, Hong Kong police warn

Anti-fraud squad says con artists contact residents and tell them Covid-19 shots have ‘lost effectiveness’, asking for personal information

Amazon ruse involves English speakers claiming that users’ accounts have been compromised

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Phone scammers have been posing as government officials or Amazon staff. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 6:30pm, 24 Sep 2021Updated: 11:02pm, 24 Sep 2021

Con artists have been impersonating health officials in Hong Kong or staff of e-commerce giant Amazon in a new wave of phone scams targeting residents, police have warned.

The new ruses prompted the force’s Anti-Deception Coordination Centre to issue scam alerts amid a 75 per cent rise in the amount of money victims lost in the first eight months of the year.

Figures from this period also showed that the number of victims dropped by 17.9 per cent to 657, but total losses surged 75 per cent to nearly HK$643 million (US$82.6 million).

Police urge the public to stay alert against deception. Photo: Warton Li

The anti-fraud centre warned that phone scammers were pretending to be staff members of the Department of Health and contacting residents to tell them their Covid-19 vaccine shots had “lost effectiveness”.

“The calls are then forwarded to another fraudster impersonating a mainland law enforcement officer, who will attempt to gather victims’ personal information, bank account details and passwords,” the centre said on its website.