Hong Kong police arrest 5 over phone scams totalling HK$480,000
Hong Kong police have arrested five people, including two teenagers, on suspicion of obtaining property by deception through phone scams, involving a total loss of HK$480,000.
Three of the suspects allegedly involved in 'guess who I am' scams targeting elderly residents were arrested on Thursday, said Wong Hon-wai, chief inspector of the West Kowloon crime unit, on Friday. In the 'guess who I am' ploy, scammers ask their targets to guess who they are and assume whatever identity the target guesses.
Two 14-year-old boys and a 28-year-old man surnamed Sit were arrested on Thursday after they were intercepted while meeting with a 90-year-old woman, one of their scam victims. The police confiscated HK$50,000 from the suspects.
A fourth alleged member of the scam ring, aged 32, was arrested earlier, Wong said.
The 90-year-old woman suffered no monetary loss, but the other victims, aged 72 to 97, were scammed out of HK$480,000. The four suspects are in detention pending investigation.
Impersonating mainland Chinese official
Separately, a 28-year-old woman surnamed Yau was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of impersonating a mainland Chinese government official, said Senior Inspector Luk Chi-ho of the Yau Tsim Mong police district crime unit.
She was arrested after a 45-year-old woman filed a police report, saying that a scammer told her on Tuesday that she was involved in financial crimes, had to comply with a 'confidential investigation,' and needed to meet with an 'agent' in Yau Ma Tei on Thursday to sign a gag order.
Police officers intercepted Yau on Thursday evening when she met with and presented her intended victim a forged warrant and confidentiality order, as well as a stamp pad for the would-be victim's signature and fingerprints.
Yau is in detention pending investigation and will appear at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts on Saturday.
Hong Kong has seen a spike in fraud-related cases in recent years, with the number nearly tripling between 2020 and 2024.
In 2024, fraud cases rose by 11.7 per cent compared with the previous year, according to official figures, driving a 5 per cent surge in overall crime. Police recorded more than 44,400 fraud cases in 2024, which accounted for 47 per cent of overall crime that year.
Earlier this year, two local universities reported nearly 100 students – most of them from mainland China – had lost HK$75 million to scams.
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