Hongkongers warned over WhatsApp scams after con artists cheat 25 people out of HK$800,000 in week by pretending to be family or friends
- Police warn residents to remain vigilant when receiving any requests for money transfers or financial help
- In one case, victim received WhatsApp message from impostor posing as his brother, claiming to urgently need HK$160,000 for business operations
More than two dozen Hongkongers fell victim to WhatsApp scams in a single week as con artists hijacked the accounts of their relatives, friends and colleagues, sending out text messages to deceive them, police revealed on Friday.
The force posted an alert on its CyberDefender Facebook page in the afternoon, saying at least 25 WhatsApp scams were reported in the past week and the victims lost more than HK$800,000 (US$101,990) in total.
Police warned residents to remain vigilant while receiving any requests for money transfers or financial help.
According to the force, swindlers usually pretend to be family members or friends of WhatsApp users and invent different excuses to trick them into revealing their account verification codes.
Scammers then access the accounts with the codes and, while posing as the users, send text messages to deceive the account holders’ contacts.
In the past week, police said more than 25 victims received WhatsApp messages from fraudsters posing as relatives, friends and colleagues as well as business partners.
“These messages claimed an urgent need for business funds, payment of insurance fees or buying gifts for family members, and requested the victims to transfer money into designated bank accounts,” the force said.
After transferring the money, the victims realised they had been conned when they contacted the real account users.
In one case, a victim received a WhatsApp text message from an impostor posing as his older brother, who claimed to urgently need HK$160,000 for business operations in mainland China and requested a transfer.
WhatsApp scams first came to the attention of police in November 2017 when fewer than 10 cases were reported.
A surge after that prompted police in April 2018 to warn the public and urge WhatsApp users to set up a two-step verification process on their accounts.
Police advised residents to safeguard their personal data, verify the identity of senders and not to transfer money to strangers’ bank accounts. If in doubt, the public should call the Anti-Scam Helpline at 18222.
Police handled 18,743 cases of various types of deception between January and June this year, a 52 per cent increase from 12,326 logged over the same period in 2022.
Losses this year reached HK$2.69 billion, up 28 per cent from HK$2.1 billion in the same period in 2022.
