Online investment fraud cases nearly 160 in a week involving over 115 million HKD; Hong Kong woman scammed out of 7.3 million HKD by WhatsApp phishing messages

The police's "Internet Guardians" social platform announced that from January 17 to 23 last week, the police received nearly 160 cases of online investment fraud, involving over HKD 115 million. Fraudsters typically contact victims through phishing messages, joining investment groups, or investment advertisements. However, they also seek prey through other social platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, WeChat, LINE, and other social media and messaging apps.

In recent months, a local woman received a phishing message on the messaging app WhatsApp, where the fraudster claimed to be an "investment expert" and lured the victim into investing in gold with promises of high returns. The victim clicked on the link provided by the fraudster to enter a fake investment website for investment. Subsequently, the website's customer service instructed the victim to transfer money multiple times to an unknown personal bank account. The victim had successfully withdrawn HKD 350,000 but ultimately could not access the investment website again and lost contact with the fraudster, realizing she had been scammed, with total losses exceeding HKD 7.3 million.

The police remind citizens not to trust tips from self-proclaimed "online investment experts," not to click on any suspicious links, or use unknown investment websites for investment! Furthermore, do not deposit money into personal or unknown bank accounts. If in doubt, visit the "Fraud Detection Tool" on the Internet Guardians website or use the "Fraud Detection App" for fraud risk assessment