Phone scammers exploit Hong Kong public’s Covid-19 fears as more than HK$720 million stolen from victims in first nine months of year

Phone scammers have exploited public fears over Covid-19 as more than HK$720 million (US$91.7 million) in losses were logged in Hong Kong as the total take by fraudsters hit HK$3.3 billion for the first nine months of the year, police have said.

The force on Monday said scammers had impersonated health officials and preyed on the willingness of victims to comply with pandemic health regulations.

“Covid-19 has made people more vulnerable to scammers under working from home arrangements and social isolation,” said Bonnie Ngan Hoi-ian, a chief inspector with the force’s anti-deception coordination centre.

“For recent deception cases, 90 per cent of scammers pretended to be officials from the Department of Health. This is because people thought it would be related to Covid-19 and would be more willing to listen to or believe in the pre-recorded messages.”

Figures showed 1,687 phone scam cases from January to September, a 130 per cent increase on the 735 recorded in the same period last year.

The total number of scam cases during the period was 19,444, with about HK$3.3 billion lost to fraudsters.