Hong Kong police warn of Instagram account hijacking after users’ family and friends tricked out of HK$200,000 in week

Police say hackers pretended to be account holders, sent messages to relatives and friends to ask for urgent financial help

‘Whenever you use any social media platform and receive messages from relatives and friends requesting money transfers or payments, you should immediately call them to verify their identity,’ force advises

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Instagram users have become the latest target of online scams, police warn. Photo: AP

Published: 1:58pm, 14 May 2024Updated: 4:27pm, 14 May 2024

Instagram users have become the latest target of online scams after fraudsters hacked 27 accounts and cheated relatives and friends on contact lists out of HK$200,000 (US$25,600), according to Hong Kong police.

The force said in an alert posted on its CyberDefender Facebook page on Monday night that it received reports of the cases over the span of a week earlier this month.

“The biggest loss in one case amounted to HK$30,000, with a combined loss of nearly HK$200,000,” police said.

Scammers posed as the users after hacking the accounts to dupe people on contact lists

“Pretending to be the account owners, the hackers sent Instagram messages to the users’ relatives and friends to ask for urgent financial help,” the force warned.

Police said the victims’ relatives and friends discovered they had been deceived after they transferred money to bank accounts controlled by the fraudsters.

According to authorities, online account hijacking can occur due to various reasons, such as forgetting to log out from a public computer or falling victim to malicious software.