Hijacked WhatsApp scams surge as homebuyer loses deposit
Bastillepost · 1 SOURCESabout 2 hours ago2 MIN
Summary
Hong Kong police and Meta used an August 28 press briefing to warn that hijacked messaging-account scams have become more targeted, with fraudsters mining victims’ real chat records and personal circumstances to make payment requests look authentic. One featured case involved a 32-year-old man preparing to buy a flat who lost nearly HK$1.17 million after his account was taken over and scammers posed as his estate agent and lawyer.
Key Points
- Police said Hong Kong recorded 2,020 hijacked instant-messaging account cases from January to July 2026, up 154% from 795 a year earlier.
- Of those, 1,993 were account-takeover cases, a 169.7% jump from 739 and already above the 1,669 recorded in all of 2025.
- In the homebuying case, scammers used a phishing text to seize the victim’s account, reviewed chats, then demanded the “large deposit” through third-party bank accounts.
- Police also cited a July case in which a businessman lost more than HK$10 million after receiving voice messages apparently mimicking his father’s speech patterns.
- On July 30 in Tseung Kwan O, officers seized an active fake base-station device linked to over 6,000 phishing texts and at least 16 cases.
Why It Matters
The police said losses in many cases were only thousands to tens of thousands of Hong Kong dollars, but some reached millions, showing how ordinary daily messaging can be turned into high-stakes fraud once an account is compromised. Meta said it is adding stronger warnings for unfamiliar calls and expanded verification tools, while police linked the surge to heavy local reliance on messaging apps and cheaper AI-enabled scam tactics.