Hong Kong police have arrested two men in connection with at least seven scam cases involving nearly HK$10 million (US$1.3 million) of losses for victims duped by fake law-enforcement officials, with officers searching for a third suspect.
Superintendent Li Muk-yik said on Saturday that the scammers had asked their accomplices to meet victims in hotels under the guise of conducting investigations and used different excuses to collect money from their targets.
Li said officers arrested the two suspects – a Hongkonger, 19, and a mainland Chinese man, 25 – on Friday and Saturday and were looking for a third involved in the case. The two men are currently being held pending further investigation.
“This operation involved at least seven related scam cases all over Hong Kong, with nearly HK$10 million in funds lost in total,” Li said.
“In these seven cases, the victims were aged between 17 and 71 years, and were scammed by a syndicate and lost a large amount of money.”
The victim with the biggest loss was conned out of more than HK$4.6 million in a few days, he added.
Li said the methods used by the scammers were similar to previous cases, with victims first receiving a phone call.
