A woman lost 6.07 million yuan in the "cat giving scam" by mistake.
The police received a report from a 58-year-old local woman surnamed Xu on the third day of Chinese New Year (24th). A person who claimed to be an employee of a shipping company.
Ms. Xu followed the person's instruction to pay the relevant fees to arrange for the transportation of the cat. The other party later stated that the cat died during the transportation, and the victim could receive about US$150,000 in insurance compensation.
Ms. Xu was told by another person who claimed to be a foreign bank employee that she needed to pay administrative fees to obtain relevant insurance compensation, so she followed the instructions and deposited the virtual currency (Bitcoin) with a market value of about 6.07 million yuan in 40 times into a bank designated by the other party. E-wallet, the scammer then asked Xu for more money, and Xu finally suspected that she had been cheated, so she reported the crime.
After preliminary investigation, the case was classified as "obtaining property by deception" and was handed over to the fourth team of the Criminal Investigation Team of the Tsuen Wan Police District for follow-up. No one has been arrested yet.
The police reiterated that anyone who commits the crime of "obtaining property by deception" under Article 17 of the Theft Ordinance, Chapter 210 of the Laws of Hong Kong, will be punished with a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.
Police appeal to members of the public to call the "Anti-Scam 18222" hotline if in doubt.
