Local resident claims loss of HKD3.6m over phone scam

A resident aged over 40 years old and working as croupier in a local casino has filed a complaint with the Judiciary Police (PJ), claiming to have lost HKD3.63 million in a phone scam, the PJ spokesperson said yesterday during a press conference.

According to the report, the woman received a call claiming that a package addressed in her name was confiscated by customs for containing “illegal products”. Although she had not ordered any products, she nonetheless paid the required amount to release the package.

The woman paid over HKD3.6m through eight transfers between mid-May and the end of June this year. The highest amount paid in one transaction was over HKD1m, and the lowest was HKD26,000.

The woman filed her complaint with the PJ on July 8, in which she claimed that she used three mobile phone shops in Macau to transfer the money to mainland China. She claims she later made deposits directly in the mainland.

The victim also said that the money lost in the scam belonged partly to her savings, with another portion resulting from loans from friends. The police are still investigating the case.

In an unrelated case, a mainland woman in her thirties also claimed that she was scammed by a Hong Kong man (aged 56) over a marriage advertisement she had placed in Hong Kong newspapers.

The woman told the PJ that she had placed the advertisement in several newspapers in the neighboring region with the purpose of finding a husband, as her sister had done previously.

A man named Green replied to the advertisement, and presented himself as a Hong Kong resident currently living and working in the USA, where he had a restaurant.

Under the pretext of arranging a visa for the mainland woman to travel with him to the USA, the man convinced the woman to go to Macau, where he asked her for HKD240,000 to obtain the visa.

Although there is no American consulate in Macau, the woman believed him and handed over the cash. After that, the man disappeared, completely cutting off contact with the woman, who then realized she’d been scammed and filed a complaint.

On July 5, the Immigration Officers caught the man trying to exit Macau in transit to Hong Kong via the Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal.

He confessed to the crime, admitting that his motive was to obtain money to gamble in local casinos.

Further investigations also uncovered that the man, working as a cook in Hong Kong, had an extensive criminal record in the neighboring region between 1982 and 2004, and has been convicted of several crimes including fraud and homicide.

He was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office to be charged.