Number of Hongkongers falling prey to online romance scams surges almost 250 per cent
Police issue warning to residents after con artists tricked victims out of HK$137 million in the first half of 2018
More than 270 Hongkongers were conned out of HK$137 million (US$17.4 million) in online romance scams in the first half of this year, almost a 250 per cent rise compared with the number of such reports in the same period last year, Hong Kong police revealed on Wednesday.
The money stolen was also 3.8 times more than the total losses bagged by swindlers in such scams in the same period last year.
“Scammers usually posed as professional foreigners or soldiers to find victims on social media,” Li Chi-hang, director of crime and security, said at a press conference while revealing Hong Kong’s crime situation for the first half of this year. “After establishing trust with the victims, scammers conned money out of them by all means.”
The warning came as the city recorded its lowest crime rate since 1977, with 26,550 crime cases being reported in the first half of this year.
Law enforcement sources believed two syndicates based in Asia and run by Nigerian con artists were behind most of this year’s online romance fraud cases. “We have sought help from overseas law enforcement agencies to track down the gangs,” one source said.
