Hong Kong police have arrested two teenage students on suspicion of swindling four elderly women out of HK$330,000 (US$42,240) in a “guess who I am” phone scam.
The force said on Wednesday the pair, aged 16 and 18, both male, were allegedly paid as little as a few hundred Hong Kong dollars to become “expendable foot soldiers” for a scam syndicate.
“The two arrestees do not know each other. One was responsible for collecting cash scammed from the victims and passing it on to the other suspect,” Chief Inspector Yu Pok-hon of the New Territories South regional crime unit said.
Yu said the suspect who received the funds then followed orders from the syndicate to buy cryptocurrency and deposit it into virtual wallets in a bid to avoid police efforts to trace the money.
A preliminary investigation suggested the two teenagers were introduced to the syndicate through their friends.
He said the two suspects were linked to at least four phone scam cases in which four women, aged 73 to 84, lost a combined HK$330,000 between May and July.
The four each received calls from scammers on their home landline phones.
Police said the fraudsters impersonated the victims’ children or grandchildren and claimed they had been detained by police and needed bail money.
The chief inspector said another scammer then reached out pretending to be a friend of their relative to arrange to meet the elderly victim and collect the money.
“All four victims were actually aware of phone scams but, out of concern for their loved ones’ safety, they fell for the tactics in a moment of panic and lost their savings,” Yu said.
The victims realised they had been scammed when they contacted their families. Reports were then made to police.
The most lost by a single victim was HK$200,000, according to the force.
Officers from the New Territories South regional crime unit checked surveillance camera footage and identified the two suspects.
Police arrested the pair on Tuesday on suspicion of obtaining property by deception – an offence punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the two suspects were still being held for questioning.
Police said further arrests had not been ruled out, as the investigation was ongoing.
Yu reminded young people not to take risks to earn quick money during the summer holidays.
In “guess who I am” phone scams, fraudsters call their victims, pretend to be a family member in distress and ask for money.
The tactic is one of three common tricks, the others being bogus kidnappings and fraudsters pretending to be officials.
The number of phone scam cases dropped to 474 cases in the first quarter of the year, down 21 per cent against the same period in 2023. But losses quadrupled to HK$789 million from HK$195 million.
One of the earlier victims was a 70-year-old businesswoman who was duped out of HK$258 million in the city’s largest such swindle reported in January this year.
