Phone crooks try to scam HK$300,000 ... after mistakenly dialling the police

2014-12-05

■Scammers used internet phone services to make random calls from the mainland and they did not know the three phone numbers belonged to Kwun Tong police station. Photo: SCMP

A con artist from the mainland was arrested in a bungled phone scam yesterday after his accomplices tried to cheat police officers out of HK$300,000.

"This is your son. Help!" and "Your son has a debt problem. Pay money or he will be beaten," were the lines used by the conmen in calls to three officers at Kwun Tong station yesterday.

A police source said: "It is likely the scammers used internet phone services to make random calls from the mainland and they did not know the three phone numbers belonged to Kwun Tong police station."

The gang first called Chief Inspector Chung Chi-ming at about 1pm. One of the two men on the line claimed to be his son and shouted for help over the phone. He was then told that his son would be beaten unless he paid HK$300,000.

"The officer knew it was a trick and tried to persuade the scammers into collecting the money face-to-face," the source said. "It is possible he asked a lot of questions and the gang hung up."

Minutes after Kwun Tong's assistant district commander (crime), Superintendent David Cameron, was briefed about the scam the phone on his desk rang.

"His broken Cantonese probably made the scammers suspicious and they gave up," the source said.

Within 10 minutes, the gang made their third call and got through to Senior Inspector Li Ka-yan. The scammers demanded HK$300,000 at first, but this was lowered to HK$100,000 after negotiations.

The crooks then demanded that she go to Hoi Yuen Road in Kwun Tong and pay the money, according to police.

"A 23-year-old man was picked up when a female sergeant posing as the victim handed over an envelope containing blank paper," the source said.

The suspect is a mainland tourist who arrived from Guangdong on Monday. He was still being questioned last night and had not been charged. Kwun Tong district crime squad is investigating.

A veteran police officer believed it was the first time telephone scammers had called a police station.

In the first six months of the year, police handled 1,178 reports of telephone scams. There were 2,047 cases of telephone scams in the whole of last year, compared with 2,314 in 2012. But total losses jumped to HK$39.2 million last year, from HK$33.7 million.

Source: South China Morning Post