Cheated hearts, empty pockets: online dating scams in Hong Kong and abroad
Cases include victim transferring money to ease supposed lover’s financial difficulties
Major development project
In October last year, a 48-year-old Hong Kong woman living in Kwun Tong was revealed to have been conned out of HK$1.4 million by her Nigerian “lover”. The manager of a local trading company made six transfers to the fraudster’s account after first making contact with the man in March of that year through an undisclosed dating platform. He told her he had invested in a “major development project”, but he was in financial difficulties and needed money urgently. But by August, after she had made the deposits, the man stopped returning her messages. She subsequently filed a report with police, who are investigating.
Financial problems
A 42-year-old Hong Kong woman was duped into transferring HK$880,000 to a man named “Ritchie”, posing as a British businessman online. The victim, a clerk who lived in Kwun Tong’s Tsui Ping Estate, transferred the cash to bank accounts in Mexico and the United States between May and August last year in 30 separate transactions. The woman had never met her supposed “lover”, who she met through a dating app.