Fake official telephone scams are not uncommon in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong drift students are often recruited. Earlier this month, a mainland college student who had just come to Hong Kong for further studies received a fake call from the Department of Health, accusing him of violating epidemic prevention measures, and then forwarded it to a police officer claiming to be a mainland police officer. The scammer asked him to provide his bank information and, as a “spy”, assisted his mother-in-law, who was also accused of being involved in a criminal case, in purchasing a phone. The mainland student had a different feeling afterwards, so he sought help in the “Hong Kong Drift Report Room WeChat Group” set up by the police, and finally successfully blocked the 3.8 million yuan that the group defrauded from her mother-in-law’s account.
Photo: Zhong Shiming
In the first half of this year, the police received a total of 786 telephone fraud cases, involving a total of 404 million yuan. Among them, there were 183 cases of telephone fraud related to the epidemic, such as impersonating the Department of Health and being accused of violating anti-epidemic guidelines, with a loss of about 194 million yuan. The police pointed out that fraudsters often impersonate the Department of Health and use different excuses to falsely claim that the victims are involved in different types of criminal cases, such as violating the anti-epidemic guidelines, illegally transporting the virus, etc. The swindler then forwarded the call to another swindler who pretended to be a police officer, falsely claiming that the victim had committed a crime of money laundering in the Mainland and had to hand over a “guarantee” to clear the suspicion.
Due to the lack of anti-fraud information, Xiao Pan, a college student from mainland China, almost fell into the trap. He came to Hong Kong to study in August this year. In early September, he received a fake call from the Department of Health that started with “+852”, saying that he had traveled to high-risk areas and had to be quarantined. On the 7th, after he denied it, the swindlers falsely claimed that his identity was stolen or that his identity had been stolen, and the public security must investigate and issue a certificate to exempt him from quarantine. The call was then forwarded to the “Guangdong Provincial Police”. Xiao Pan handed over his personal and bank information as required by the fraudsters, “I didn’t have a lot of money in my account at the time, and I had just paid my tuition fees, so the fake police asked me to be a ‘spy’ for them, and told me, ‘This is a spy’. work for the country.”
On the other hand, the 81-year-old mother-in-law Chen was also manipulated by the same fraud group in the same way at the end of June, and threatened her not to speak out, otherwise “the consequences will be at your own risk.” The swindler then asked her to buy a brand new phone to facilitate contact and for investigation and confidentiality purposes. Since Granny Chen didn’t know how to buy, the swindler sent a “spy” Xiao Pan to take her mother-in-law to Mong Kok to buy it on September 8. new phone.
However, Xiao Pan “felt not right” after purchasing the mobile phone and told Xiao Wei, a college classmate who is also a Hong Kong drifter, that it was suspected of being a scam, so he asked the police for help in the “Hong Kong drift report room WeChat group”, and finally the same night police officers Find Xiao Pan and Granny Chen and lead them to Kwun Tong Police Station to report the crime. Tsang Ziyang, a police officer from the Kowloon East Regional Crime Prevention Unit who assisted the two people to report the case, said that since Granny Chen had disclosed her bank information to the fraudsters, she was fortunately stopped in time to keep her deposit of about HK$3.8 million.
The “Hong Kong Drift Report Room WeChat Group” of the Kowloon East Regional Crime Prevention Office was officially launched in December last year. It operates 24 hours a day and has more than 1,800 members of mainland students. As of yesterday, the police had received about 800 enquiries related to electricity scams, and successfully intercepted 5 suspected electricity scams involving about HK$8 million, with no losses to the 5 victims. The police hope to set up a WeChat group to enhance the information flow of the mainland international students. Everyone reminds each other that they plan to expand similar platforms to other groups in the future to protect citizens’ property.
Originally published on AM730 https://www.am730.com.hk/local/81-year-old woman loses 3.8 million due to electricity scam-Spy-Hong Kong drifting mainland students report the crime in time/338644?utm_source=yahoorss&utm_medium=referral