A 49-year-old local woman surnamed Leung accidentally fell into an online romance scam. Earlier, she met a liar who claimed to be a divorced wealthy businessman on a social platform. The other party falsely claimed to have a relationship with her.
She believed that she had found true love without fear of any fraud. Later, the scammers persuaded her to invest in foreign exchange. She then deposited a total of 2.7 million yuan into the account designated by the other party. As a result, she suffered huge losses and called the police for help on the 2nd of this month.
After preliminary investigation, the police classified the case as obtaining property by deception and handed it over to the Tsuen Wan District Criminal Investigation Team for follow-up. No arrests have been made so far.
The police said that dating aid and online romance scams have become rampant in recent years, reminding the public to recognize the identity of each other when making friends online.
Most of the photos used by scammers are stolen or reused. The public can use the search engine to search for each other's images, and pay attention to whether the scammers' social accounts are newly created and whether there is any abnormality in the circle of friends.
Citizens should also protect personal data, avoid revealing any personal data that can be searched to strangers, and be vigilant when someone asks for payment for any reason.