A Hong Kong housewife has been swindled out of HK$65mil by phone scammers accusing her of spreading fake news about the central government’s measures to fight Covid-19 in mainland China.
Detectives from the Sham Shui Po district crime squad launched an investigation after the husband made a report to police on Sunday. “The victim was told that an arrest warrant for her had been issued by the related authorities,” the source said. The source said the woman had also met the scammers in person in the city and was given a mobile phone to use when contacting them.
Last month, a 26-year-old mainland student in Hong Kong lost nearly HK$15mil in a phone scam in which con artists posing as government officials accused him of smuggling Covid-19 vaccines.