Man sentenced for impersonation scam targeting two seniors

A man who impersonated relatives to defraud two elderly victims of a total of MOP300,000 was sentenced to four years in prison by the Court of First Instance and ordered to compensate the victims. The scam, carried out in June 2024, involved the defendant’s accomplice calling the seniors using altered phone numbers, claiming they had injured classmates and needed to pay compensation. Trusting the calls, the victims handed over HKD100,000 and MOP200,000 in cash. The defendant’s appeal to the intermediate court was rejected, with the judges citing prior thorough consideration of sentencing factors and the need for deterrence.