Fraudsters use bogus version of Hong Kong police’s ‘Scameter’ app to target past deception victims
- Fraudulent alerts titled ‘urgent notice’ claim recipients in line to receive portion of HK$50 million recovered from email deception case
- ‘The legitimate Scameter app does not collect users’ personal information, require login or offer customer services,’ police warn
Fraudsters sent out phishing messages featuring a bogus version of Hong Kong police’s anti-scam search engine app in a bid to dupe past deception victims, prompting the force to issue an urgent warning to the public on Monday.
According to police, fraudsters were looking to snare past scam victims with messages marked “urgent notice”, claiming they would get back more than HK$50 million (US$6.4 million) recovered from a large-scale cross-border online deception case.
Acting Senior Superintendent Chan Shun-ching of the force’s cyber security and technology crime bureau said recipients were told to click a hyperlink for a bogus website, before being coaxed into downloading a fake version of “Scameter” and creating an account featuring a customer services channel.
“Through the customer service, scammers posing as mainland law enforcers asked recipients to input their names, ages, addresses and other personal information,” he explained.
“They were also required to reveal the type of deception scam they were involved in and the amount of money they lost.”
Police said the scammers had claimed to offer different options for victims to collect their lost money.
