Fraudsters posed as judicial officers in January and February but failed to make any money, so they switched tactics
CLIFFORD.LO@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Wednesday, 06 April, 2016, 8:30am
Police officers hand out leaflets warning people about phone scams. Photo: Sam Tsang
Bogus immigration officers have duped Hongkongers out of about HK$1 million in the latest round of phone scams as con artists have come up with a new ruse, the Post has learned.
About 20 victims fell for the new tactic that surfaced last month after scammers posed as Hong Kong judicial representatives in January and February, but failed to make any money.
“Each victim lost tens of thousands of dollars. They are young and old, but most are new immigrants from the mainland,” a source with knowledge of the investigation said.
Initial investigations showed the victims received recorded messages that claimed there were Immigration Department mail items waiting for collection, according to police. They were then instructed to press a button to make an inquiry.
The calls were then transferred to scammers who posed as Hong Kong immigration officers.
“Victims were told that the Immigration Department had made some arrests and seized fake passports that contained their personal information,” the source said.
He said some of the victims were even accused of being involved in the manufacture and sale of bogus passports.
They were told that the cases were being investigated by mainland law enforcers and the calls were transferred to someone who claimed to be from the mainland police.
“In the end, the victims were told that further investigations revealed they were involved in commercial fraud or money laundering,” the source said.
“They were asked to pay to show their willingness to cooperate and prove their innocence.”
The tactic prompted the Immigration Department to issue a clarification last month, saying the department was very concerned about recent public inquiries about voice messages relating to uncollected mail from the department.
“The Immigration Department will not make any pre-recorded voice calls to any members of the public,” the department said.
“The public should remain vigilant and verify the identity of a caller when contacted by phone, and should not disclose their personal information to others arbitrarily.”
The department asked the public to call its inquiry hotline on 2824 6111 if there is any doubt.
Despite the warning, another source said about 20 Hongkongers fell for this tactic and were cheated out of about HK$1 million.
Telephone scammers had previously posed as officials from Beijing’s liaison office and staff from courier firms.
It is understood police last month handled less than 100 reports of phone scams involving more than HK$60 million.
A woman, 34, was the latest victim of a phone scam after she was duped out of 1.45 million yuan (HK$1.74 million). The incident came to light when she called police on Monday.
She received a call in mid-March from a man claiming to be a mainland law enforcer. She was accused of involvement in money laundering and instructed to transfer the money into a mainland bank account for investigation purposes. She realised she had been cheated when she found all the money in her bank account had been withdrawn.
The city’s biggest scam victim received a call in October. The man, 53, later realised he was cheated out of more than HK$58 million and sought police help on March 4.
In the first two months of this year, police recorded 76 reports of phone scams. Forty-nine cases involving HK$17 million were successful.
Last year, there were 1,423 reports of such scams. Police said 561 were successful, with the haul totalling nearly HK$300 million. In 2014, police received just 23 such reports.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1933771/new-tactics-phone-scammers-pretend-be-hong-kong-immigration
