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One of the mainland's leading couriers publicly apologised yesterday for recent telephone scams in which fraudsters impersonated its staff to dupe Hongkongers out of money.
In a statement, the Hong Kong division of SF Express, a delivery service based in Shenzhen, said: "In light of the recent wave of scam calls which impersonate SF Express, we would like to sincerely apologise to customers who were cheated or disturbed."
It also stressed that when SF Express contacted customers it would not ask for personal or delivery information, or transfer calls to law enforcement authorities, in Hong Kong or elsewhere.
"We will try our very best to coordinate with different parties to prevent customers being cheated again," the firm said.
READ MORE: Hong Kong should follow mainland China's example in phone scam crackdown, DAB lawmaker urges after Beijing meeting

The scammers usually pose as staff from courier companies and tell victims they have an undelivered parcel containing illegal documents. The call is then typically transferred to another scammer impersonating a mainland official who asks the victim to transfer money as a show of good faith to the authorities.
Three days ago scammers cheated three women in Hong Kong out of a total of HK$21.72 million by posing as SF Express staff. Since January, more than 2,500 telephone scams have been reported in Hong Kong, with victims losing HK$300 million.
The largest reported loss was HK$22.8 million, paid by Li Yuanrong, the 73-year-old wife of erhu virtuoso Wang Guotong.
Wang, 76, said the money was borrowed from banks and friends and paid as a "guarantee of innocence" after conmen posing as Hongkong Post staff called and diverted them to "Shenzhen prosecutors", who made regular midnight phone calls alleging the couple might be involved in a HK$60 million fraud.
In July, the Post was hit by a spate of calls in which someone claiming to represent STO Express, a mainland courier company, attempted to swindle funds out of staff members.
Yesterday, the Post received a pre-recorded call, claiming the recipient's home return permit would be invalidated in two hours and to press zero for the China Travel Service. On doing so, a man answered in Putonghua before the line got cut off.


Phone scam fallout: Chinese courier apologises after staff were impersonated to swindle Hong Kong customers

Since January this year, there have been over 2,500 cases of telephone scams reported in Hong Kong, with the amount being cheated reaching HK$300 million dollars. Photo: Shutterstock

Arthur Yuen (left) of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and George Leung of the Hong Kong Association of Banks, speaking last month in Central on the phone scams. Photo: David Wong

Hong Kong should follow mainland China’s example in phone scam crackdown, DAB lawmaker urges after Beijing meeting

A suspect in a phone scam case is escorted by police. Photo: Sam Tsang 

Phone scammers con elderly Hong Kong woman out of HK$3m by posing as mainland Chinese officials 

Phone scammers often pose as mainland Chinese officials, including police officers. Photo: Reuters

News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime

Mainland company also urges the public to keep an eye out for bogus staff members


Phone scam fallout: Chinese courier apologises after staff were impersonated to swindle Hong Kong customers

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Mainland company also urges the public to keep an eye out for bogus staff members

Mainland company also urges the public to keep an eye out for bogus staff members