Hong Kong fashion company vice-president loses HK$6 million in bogus kitten sale, prompting police alert against online pet scams
- Source says 58-year-old victim was asked to make several cryptocurrency transfers in sale of cat from Thailand and fees for insurance claims after animal ‘died’ in delivery
- Between January and October last year, police handled 18,660 reports of cybercrimes, up two-fifths from 13,163 cases in the same period of 2021
Hong Kong police are warning animal-lovers against buying or adopting pets on the internet after the vice-president of a fashion company in the city was duped out of HK$6 million (US$764,556) in a new type of scam.
The case prompted the force’s Anti-Deception Coordination Centre to issue a fraud alert.
The 58-year-old woman fell victim to the scam after she responded to an online post about the sale of a three-month-old kitten in April last year, by a user posing as a female pet lover in Thailand.
According to the force, the pair continued to contact each other on WhatsApp.
“The scammer claimed she could offer her cat to the victim at no cost, but the victim was required to settle various charges such as delivery fee and insurance payment,” a source familiar with the case said.
Another scammer posing as a shipping company employee later contacted the woman through WhatsApp, asking her to settle a delivery fee in cryptocurrency.
As instructed, the woman set up a cryptocurrency account and transferred bitcoin to the designated e-wallet controlled by the fraudsters. The victim could not recall the amount involved in this transaction.
