Not much has been made public about the 90-year-old woman in the middle of the latest Hong Kong scam, how she gained her wealth or how she became a target. But she received a call in August from someone claiming to be a government official, reports The South China Morning Post. Days later, police said, a person claiming to be a Chinese police officer arrived at her home on Victoria Peak, the high empire of Hong Kong’s rich elite, to hand over a cellphone she was carrying during the so-called investigation would use to communicate.
For more than five months, the fraudsters unveiled instructions on the transfer of millions as part of the so-called investigation. She transferred her first million on August 12, police said. From August 13 to January 4, she poured $ 31.8 million more into the scammers’ bank accounts.
The plan collapsed when a domestic worker became suspicious and notified the woman’s daughter, who persuaded her mother to compile a police report in March, police said. By that time, nearly $ 33 million had disappeared. It was unclear if the woman would ever get a penny.
Chief Inspector Mok said the elderly were one of the most vulnerable targets of telephone fraudsters. He appealed to the public to make regular contact with older family members as a way to reduce such fraud.
“We hope that everyone calls the elderly more often, not just to show that you care about them and to remind them not to fall for phone fraud,” he said, your voices and the kinds of words you use. ”
Lennon Chang, a senior lecturer at Monash University in Australia and an expert on cybercrime in the greater China region, said that elderly people who are victims of such crimes often feel ashamed. Sometimes they continue to follow the instructions of their scammers, who often promise to return the money, even if they begin to suspect that they are being deceived.
“They fear that if they tell other people, they will be criticized for being stupid,” he said in a telephone interview. “They are afraid of being teased. They do not want to be seen falling into this kind of graft, despite decades of life experience. ”