Fake Hong Kong Airlines call costs traveller HK$1.36 million
AM730 · 3 SOURCESabout 3 hours ago2 MIN
Summary
Hong Kong's Anti-Deception Coordination Centre said fake customer-service scams have been rising, with recent cases involving people posing as staff from Hong Kong Airlines, Yoho and BUILT-IN PRO. In the biggest reported case, a traveller who had bought two tickets through Hong Kong Airlines' official website was contacted on September 29, one day before a scheduled September 30 departure, and was told in Putonghua that the flight had been cancelled. The caller knew the flight number and departure time, then directed the victim to contact an alleged "insurance officer" on WhatsApp and complete supposed verification steps through a fake website. After multiple transfers to different accounts, the victim lost a total of HK$1.36 million.
Key Points
- Police said recent fake customer-service scams have targeted victims of different ages, with losses ranging from tens of thousands of dollars to HK$1.36 million.
- In the Hong Kong Airlines case, the victim bought two air tickets on the airline's official website for travel scheduled on September 30.
- A caller claiming to be an airline employee phoned on September 29, said the flight was cancelled, and offered HK$300 compensation per ticket.
- The scammer told the victim to switch to WhatsApp and contact an alleged insurance staff member, then log into a fake website during work.
- After asking for balances of several bank accounts, the fraudsters demanded "transfer verification" and persuaded the victim to send money to multiple accounts.
Why It Matters
The case shows how criminals can use stolen booking or shopping records to make last-minute calls sound convincing, especially when travellers are under time pressure before departure. Police are urging people to hang up on suspicious calls, avoid calling back numbers sent by message, verify directly with the company concerned, and use the Scameter tools or the Anti-Scam Helpline 18222 if in doubt.