41 Hongkongers lose HK$12 million in malware scam involving Singapore and Malaysia
- Police say Malaysia-based syndicate suspected to have scammed more than 4,000 people in region since 2023
Forty-one Hongkongers have lost more than HK$12 million (US$1.54 million) in a regional scam involving the use of malware to steal bank information, according to the city’s police who collaborated with Malaysia and Singapore counterparts on the case.
The force said on Friday it believed a Malaysia-based syndicate had scammed more than 4,000 people in the region since 2023, with the first report linked to the case in Hong Kong filed in September last year.
“This is actually the first malware scam case [of this kind] that we have discovered in Hong Kong,” said Dicken Ko Tik, who is a superintendent of police for the force’s cyber security and technology crime bureau.
The superintendent said the force had received reports of 41 such cases in Hong Kong between September last year and April, involving more than HK$12 million. The single-largest case involved an 88-year-old man, who lost about HK$6 million.
Ko said scammers tricked victims by using fake online store pages on different social media platforms, where they claimed to sell various products and services.
After users reached out to these stores, scammers would contact them and insist they install an online shopping application through non-official links.
Victims would then be directed to fake websites, where they would enter their online banking information to pay for shipping fees.