Hong Kong police intercept HK$6.3bil scammed from victims of phone and Internet swindles over three years

Con artists targeted romance seekers, companies sourcing surgical masks and those eligible for government’s HK$10,000 handout. Anti-Deception Coordination Centre has already frozen HK$1.88bil of swindled money in the first half of this year. — SCMP

Hong Kong police’s anti-fraud squad has intercepted more than HK$6.3bil (RM3.46bil) conned from victims of phone and Internet scams in the city and across the world since the centre was set up three years ago, according to latest figures.

The biggest “stop-payment” case involved an email fraud in which a company in the United States was duped into transferring US$60mil (RM255.78mil) into a bank account in Hong Kong last month, police said on Thursday.