Hong Kong police warn WhatsApp scams on the rise after 130 people duped in 1 week
- Police warn scams involving messaging platform led to combined loss of more than HK$1.7 million last week
- ‘In most cases, the victims received WhatsApp messages from scammers posing as their relatives or friends, who claimed there was an urgent need for money’, police say
Hong Kong police have warned the public to stay vigilant for online fraudsters who hijack WhatsApp accounts and use them to dupe people on users’ contact lists after more than 130 people fell for such scams in a single week.
The force issued an alert on its CyberDefender Facebook page on Monday and said that that 131 scams involving the messaging platform had led to a combined loss of more than HK$1.7 million (US$217,300) last week.
“In most cases, the victims received WhatsApp messages from scammers posing as their relatives or friends, who claimed there was an urgent need for money due to emergencies,” the force said.
“The victims were asked to transfer the money as soon as possible.”
The force added people realised they had been conned when they spoke to the real account users after they had sent money.
Police said swindlers typically sent phishing text messages with links to fake websites and employed different excuses to trick WhatsApp users into revealing their account verification codes.