Hong Kong man loses HK$15 million to phone scammers accusing him of smuggling coronavirus vaccines
- Con artists posing as government officials demanded 26-year-old prove his innocence by sending money
- Separately, police received report from woman saying she was cheated out of 600,000 yuan by phone scammers
A Hong Kong man lost nearly HK$15 million (US$1.9 million) in a phone scam in which he was accused of smuggling Covid-19 vaccines by con artists posing as government officials.
The 26-year-old man, surnamed Zhu, transferred more than HK$6 million (US$766,000) and 7 million yuan (US$1.1 million) to designated bank accounts in 134 transactions between March 10 and 25, according to police.
Zhu, who lives in Sai Ying Pun, first received a call on March 10 from someone claiming to be an officer from the Department of Health, who then transferred the call to a purported law enforcement agency in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province in mainland China.
“The con men accused Zhu of smuggling Covid-19 vaccines and demanded money from him to prove his innocence,” a police source said.
“He reported the case to police on Wednesday after he realised he was being cheated.”
Separately, the force received a report early Wednesday morning from a 23-year-old woman saying she was cheated out of 600,000 yuan by phone scammers.
