Hong Kong fashion company vice-president loses HK$6 million in bogus kitten sale, prompting police alert against online pet scams
- Source says 58-year-old victim was asked to make several cryptocurrency transfers in sale of cat from Thailand and fees for insurance claims after animal ‘died’ in delivery
- Between January and October last year, police handled 18,660 reports of cybercrimes, up two-fifths from 13,163 cases in the same period of 2021
Hong Kong police are warning animal-lovers against buying or adopting pets on the internet after the vice-president of a fashion company in the city was duped out of HK$6 million (US$764,556) in a new type of scam.
The case prompted the force’s Anti-Deception Coordination Centre to issue a fraud alert.
The 58-year-old woman fell victim to the scam after she responded to an online post about the sale of a three-month-old kitten in April last year, by a user posing as a female pet lover in Thailand.
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According to the force, the pair continued to contact each other on WhatsApp.
“The scammer claimed she could offer her cat to the victim at no cost, but the victim was required to settle various charges such as delivery fee and insurance payment,” a source familiar with the case said.
Another scammer posing as a shipping company employee later contacted the woman through WhatsApp, asking her to settle a delivery fee in cryptocurrency.
As instructed, the woman set up a cryptocurrency account and transferred bitcoin to the designated e-wallet controlled by the fraudsters. The victim could not recall the amount involved in this transaction.
“In mid-May, the victim was told the kitten had died during delivery and she would be entitled to US$152,400 in insurance compensation, but she was asked to pay an administration fee upfront,” the source said, adding the payment was also required in cryptocurrency.
Between July and November, the victim transferred bitcoin with a value of HK$6 million to another e-wallet in 40 transactions. She realised it was a scam in mid-January 2023, when she was asked to pay more money. She then made a report to police.
The source said the strategy of an animal sale was new, but he warned that swindlers often changed tactics.
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On January 13, a 51-year-old woman called police after a con artist posing as a patient in Poland with terminal cancer duped her out of HK$9.6 million in an online romance scam.
The swindler, claiming to be a Korean engineer working in Poland, told the victim that he had lung cancer and would die if he did not receive an organ transplant.
“Be discerning and don’t believe online strangers who request your money for any reason. Do verify their identities,” police said in the latest scam alert.
The force also urged people to call its 24-hour anti-scam helpline on 18222 if they needed advice.
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Between January and October last year, Hong Kong police handled 18,660 reports of cybercrimes, up two-fifths from 13,163 cases in the same period of 2021. The amount victims lost also rose by almost a tenth to HK$2.65 billion over that period of 2022 from HK$2.42 billion in the same period of 2021.
The city saw a sevenfold increase in technology-based crimes in the decade from 2011 to 2021. Cybercrime reports jumped from 2,206 in 2011 to 16,159 in 2021, while the amount of money involved leapt 20 times to HK$3.02 billion in 2021.
