Hong Kong businessman cheated out of record HK$58m in phone scam
Yuen Long resident, 53, becomes city’s biggest loser in a transnational phone scam
A 53-year-old local businessman has become Hong Kong’s biggest loser in a transnational phone scam after he was duped out of more than HK$58 million.
The incident came to light after the Yuen Long resident made a report to police on Friday.
The man, who lives at Fairview Park in Yuen Long, received a call on October 20 from a person claiming to be an employee of a courier company, police said.
The caller said a parcel he had sent contained fake documents.
The call was then transferred to a man who claimed to be an officer from the Shanghai public security bureau. The victim was accused of money laundering and instructed to transfer money from his bank account in Hong Kong to his account on the mainland.
READ MORE: English speakers in Hong Kong targeted by phone scam syndicates
The businessman was told that it was for investigation purposes to prove his innocence.
“He was told not to inform anybody including relatives, friends, police or lawyers,” a source said.
He then kept in contact with the self-claimed mainland law enforcer until February.
“He made a report to police when he found the balance in his bank account on the mainland was zero,” the source said.
It is understood the businessman had transferred money to his mainland bank account several times as instructed.
The source said the victim lost 49 million yuan in total.
The case has been transferred to the Kowloon East regional crime unit.
Another source said the chance of recovering the money was very slim.
“In previous cases, money was withdrawn within hours of it being deposited into a mainland bank account,” he said.
It is understood most of the money involved in previous money scams was transferred to underground money exchangers in Taiwan before it vanished.
The source said police would continue with their publicity campaign warning Hongkongers of such scams.
READ MORE: From street con-artists to phone fraud: A history of Hong Kong scams ... and how to avoid becoming another victim
The previous most costly case in Hong Kong involved veteran soprano Li Yuanrong, 73, and her husband Wang Guotong, 76, who were cheated out of more than HK$22.8 million last year.
According to police, the number of phone scam cases surged by nearly 30 per cent to around 2,880 cases last year.
Nearly half of the cases involved fraudsters posing as mainland officials who fished more than HK$300 million away from Hongkongers.
Victims were typically told a parcel they had posted was problematic and in violation of mainland laws, and the calls were then transferred to someone claiming to be mainland police. Afterwards, they were instructed to prove their willingness to cooperate by transferring money to a mainland bank account.
Additional reporting by
Allen Au-yeung
