A traveller lost up to HK$1.36 million after a caller claiming to be from Hong Kong Airlines said, in Mandarin, that a flight had been cancelled the day before departure, police said.
The traveller had bought two tickets through the airline’s website for a 30 September departure. The caller knew the flight number and departure time, offered to arrange a new booking and promised HK$300 compensation per ticket, then directed the traveller to an alleged insurance employee on WhatsApp.
According to the Anti-Deception Coordination Centre, the traveller followed instructions to log into a fake website, disclose balances in several bank accounts and make repeated transfers to different accounts. The money was supposedly to be returned through the original payment route.
Police said customer-service impersonation scams had recently increased, with scammers obtaining ticket or shopping-order records through illegal means and using fluent Cantonese or Mandarin to make targeted calls. Reported victims covered different age groups, with losses ranging from tens of thousands of Hong Kong dollars to HK$1.36 million.
Anyone receiving a suspicious call should hang up and verify it independently. For Hong Kong Airlines, police listed 3916 3666 in Hong Kong and 9507 1500 in mainland China. Customers should use the airline’s official website or contact page, rather than links or numbers supplied by callers.
Police also warned that knowing personal details does not prove a caller is genuine, as such information may have been obtained illegally. Suspicious information can be checked through CyberDefender, while the 18222 anti-scam hotline offers help.