A 71-year-old retired woman lost nearly HK$2.9 million after an online romance led her into a purported investment scheme, police said. She met a man on Facebook who claimed to work for an electricity company, and the pair developed a relationship without meeting in person.
The man introduced a supposedly guaranteed waste-recycling project in Singapore. He persuaded her to download a fake investment-platform app, open an account and deposit money after receiving instructions from online customer service. The platform displayed rising profits, but the service refused to process her withdrawal, giving different reasons.
The man also allegedly claimed he had been arrested in Singapore for money laundering and asked her to transfer bail and legal fees. She was also told to take cash to a cryptocurrency exchange and deposit it into a specified electronic wallet.
Police said the woman made 17 transfers, exhausting her savings and borrowing from friends and a finance company. She realised she had been deceived after the finance company pursued repayment and she sought help from her daughter.
Police said they received at least 18 online romance-scam reports during the preceding week, involving nearly HK$7.8 million in losses. Their CyberDefender anti-scam page warned people not to download investment apps from unknown sources or pay tax or a guarantee deposit before a withdrawal. Legitimate platforms generally provide a telephone number, email address and physical address; pressure to transfer money quickly or customer service available only through instant messaging are warning signs.