Scams and swindles

It’s a good time to be a scammer in Hong Kong. New figures show that cyber-scammers cheated the city’s residents out of $57.6 million in the first 10 months of this year – a fourfold increase from $14 million for the same period in 2017. $57.6m Amount cyber-scammers conned from Hongkongers, Jan-Oct 2018 The vast majority of the victims? Love-struck individuals being exploited for their cash. Figures revealed by Hong Kong police on Sunday showed 1,777 social media scam reports were received between January and October, up from the 808 cases for the same period last year. Among the losses, some $53 million, or about 92%, involved internet love scams. The spike in cases and the scale of the mo

“You have a package ready to be picked up, but it is linked to a criminal investigation.” Your Chinese friends, no matter if they live in New York City, Washington or Hong Kong, are probably no strangers to this message. Because it’s the line phone scammers are spinning to steal money from Chinese speakers around the world. First reported in China a few years ago, these scams have recently spread to the US, Canada and Australia, where they target Chinese immigrants, students and people with Chinese surnames. In a warning to US consumers this month, the Federal Communications Commission says it has received numerous complaints about phone scammers posing as Chinese consulate employees to inf