Coronavirus: HK$144 million lost to phone scammers in Hong Kong pandemic-related ruses over first 4 months of year
- Among cases is student, 19, who received call while in quarantine from ‘Shanghai police’ accusing him of laundering money, and asking for HK$2 million in surety
- Biggest victim is housewife, 40, who was duped out of HK$65 million – more than the total amount lost in 29 such cases for the whole of 2021
Phone scammers using pandemic ruses have duped Hong Kong residents out of HK$144 million (US$18.3 million) in the first four months of this year, with the loss amounting to 18 times the figure recorded in the whole of 2021.
The 102 victims bilked this year include dozens of university students, with the ruse continuing in May when a 19-year-old boy lost HK$2 million after being scammed while in quarantine at a government isolation facility for Covid-19.
The biggest victim is a housewife who lost HK$65 million, dwarfing the total amount of HK$7.88 million lost in 29 cases in the whole of 2021.
Chief Inspector Mok Tsz-wai, head of the force’s designated team targeting phone scams, said ruses to do with the pandemic, such as accusing victims of smuggling vaccines or breaching rules, were prevalent amid the fifth wave of infections, especially from February to March.
“Local residents were concerned about the rising number of Covid-19 cases and worried about the spread of the virus, so fraudsters took advantage of their fears and invented various epidemic-related excuses to threaten and swindle them,” Mok said.
He added that another ploy used by con artists was to accuse victims of spreading fake news on pandemic measures.
One of the victims was a 40-year-old housewife who called police in April after she was swindled out of HK$65 million by phone scammers accusing her of spreading bogus information on the central government’s Covid-19 measures across the border. It was the biggest case in terms of monetary loss this year.
