Hong Kong housewife swindled out of HK$65 million by phone scammers accusing her of spreading fake news
- The woman lost more than any other phone scam victim so far this year, using all of her savings and borrowing money to pay the criminals, a police source said
- Posing as an employee from Beijing’s liaison office, a fraudster called the woman and accused her of ‘spreading false news about anti-pandemic measures’
A Hong Kong housewife has been swindled out of HK$65 million (US$8.3 million) by phone scammers accusing her of spreading fake news about the central government’s measures to fight Covid-19 in mainland China.
The 40-year-old woman who lives in Mei Foo Sun Chuen, a private housing estate in Lai Chi Kok, has lost more than any other phone scam victim so far this year. She forked over all of her savings, borrowed money from her mother and mortgaged her Cheung Sha Wan flat to pay the criminals, according to a police source.
The case came to light when the fraudsters approached her husband, a businessman, and tried to swindle money from him as well.
Detectives from the Sham Shui Po district crime squad launched an investigation after the husband filed a report to police on Sunday.
Posing as an employee from Beijing’s liaison office in the city, one of the fraudsters called the woman in June last year and accused her of “breaking mainland laws by spreading false news about the anti-pandemic measures on the mainland”.
