Scammers steal HK$100 million from Hong Kong residents in single week with fake investment platforms, police reveal

More than 110 people cheated out of cash; police warn the public to be on the alert for scams

One woman insisted on putting HK$6 million into bogus trading app, despite suspicious bank staff querying payment

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Police have issued new warnings on scams after fraudsters using fake investment apps conned Hongkongers out of HK$100 million in a week. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 7:30pm, 2 Nov 2023Updated: 8:30pm, 2 Nov 2023

More than 110 Hongkongers were duped out of HK$100 million (US$12.8 million) in the space of a week after being tricked into putting cash into bogus investment platforms, police have said.

The fake investment deals sparked an alert from the force on Wednesday on its CyberDefender Facebook page, urging people to be vigilant.

“In the past week, police received more than 110 cases of online investment scams, with a total loss exceeding HK$100 million,” the force said on the page.

Police have issued fresh warning on investment and trading scams after more than 110 people were cheated out of HK$100 million. Photo: Shutterstock

One woman was tricked into joining a chat group after she clicked on a link in an online investment post. Police said she was lured by the group’s so-called customer service representative into downloading a bogus investment trading app.

“Following the instructions, she set up an account within the sham app to invest and transferred over HK$6 million to local bank accounts controlled by the scammer,” the force said.

Police said the woman insisted on making the payments, despite the suspicions of bank staff, who questioned the transfer.

The woman realised she had been defrauded when she attempted to withdraw the funds and the trading platform blocked her using a variety of pretexts.

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