On Wednesday, police released details of the case through the "Cyber Defender" Facebook website, reminding residents to exercise caution when making new friends who invest online.
Police said the man fell victim to the scam after meeting a woman who claimed to be from Taiwan through a language learning mobile app two months ago. "The woman introduced him to a fraudulent trading website for investing in gold."
After opening an account on the website, he made 25 transfers to the designated bank account within two months, with a total amount of more than HK$2.7 million. It wasn't until he found that he couldn't withdraw cash on the trading platform and the woman couldn't be contacted that he realized he had been cheated and called the police.
Police warn on their website that scammers often "establish online romantic relationships to gain the trust of their victims and lure them into investing" in a so-called "killing scam".
“Beware of investment projects recommended by the perfect man/woman you meet online,” the police also reminded the public to verify the background information of investment websites and avoid downloading unknown applications.
Hong Kong police handled 5,105 reports of online investment fraud last year, a 170% increase from 1,884 in 2022. The financial losses involved also increased by 250% to HK$3.2 billion from HK$926 million in the previous year.
Police advise the public to use the police's Scameter search engine to check for suspicious or fraudulent schemes. The search engine provides information that helps users identify suspicious URLs, emails, platform usernames, bank accounts, mobile phone numbers and IP addresses.
