Hongkonger conned out of HK$1 million by ‘lawyers’ who promised to help her recover money lost to her ‘internet lover’
- Woman swindled after seeking sham legal team’s help to retrieve money she lost in romance scam four years ago
- Victim previously lost HK$80,000 in common online employment fraud after a man she met online convinced her to participate in ‘click farming’ tasks in exchange for commission
A Hong Kong woman has been cheated out of more than HK$1 million (US$128,000) after fraudsters posing as lawyers promised to help her recover HK$80,000 she lost to a romance scam a few years ago, according to police.
The force said that when the victim reached out to the bogus legal team, she was told it would be difficult to get her money back and was recommended to take up an “online job”.
The job turned out to be a scam similar to the one she was lured into by her “internet lover” four years ago.
The woman initially lost HK$80,000 in a common online employment fraud, known as click farming or boosting sales, after she met a man through WhatsApp, police said on their CyberDefender Facebook page this week.
“The man showered her with attention and care and the pair quickly developed an online romance relationship,” the force added.
“He then convinced her to register on a bogus website and participate in ‘click farming’ tasks in exchange for commission.”
The woman was then lured into transferring the money into a designated bank account he provided to carry out her tasks. She realised she had been conned when she could not reach her “online lover”.
Victims of this scam were told that their role was to boost sales and popularity of a retail outlet by using their own money to shop online.
They were told to set up an account on a sham website and transfer money into specified bank accounts to carry out related tasks. Scammers usually promised them a return of their principal sum, as well as commission payments.
After moving on from an emotional and financial trauma caused by the previous scam, the woman came across a Facebook advertisement for a “legal team” claiming to help people recover conned money, according to the force.
She contacted the “legal team” and was approached by a con artist posing as “lawyer Chan” who claimed it would be challenging to retrieve the money she lost.
“But ‘lawyer Chan’ offered her an opportunity to earn money through similar ‘click farming’ tasks as a form of compensation,” the force said.
As instructed, she set up an account on a fake website and transferred HK$1.04 million into multiple bank accounts.
Police said the woman realised it was a scam after discussing it with a friend.
“If any group or individual claims to be a professional anti-fraud team, law firm, or hacker organisation and promises to help victims recover their scammed money, it is undoubtedly a scam,” police said.
A police source said scammers also offered small commission payments as bait to persuade people to carry out further transactions and invest more money.
The insider added the amount of money jobseekers lost in online employment frauds last year rose sharply.
Official figures show police handled 3,518 reports of online employment fraud last year, a 21.9 per cent rise from 2,884 cases logged in 2022. Financial losses increased by 65.5 per cent to HK$760 million in 2023 from HK$459 million the year before.
The surge in employment fraud contributed to the increase in all deception cases, which rose by 42.6 per cent last year to 39,824 from 27,923 in 2022. The amount lost rose by 89 per cent to HK$9.1 billion in 2023 from the HK$4.8 billion recorded the year before.
Commissioner of Police Raymond Siu Chak-yee revealed on Saturday that in the first three months of this year, the number of deception cases rose 0.9 per cent, but investment-linked scams jumped 55.2 per cent, resulting in losses of more than HK$900 million.
