Hong Kong victim loses HK$1 million in new tech support scam widespread in Singapore
- Police say scam that led to huge losses in city state used on 20 Hongkongers, including two who lost HK$1 million and HK$390,000
A new scam used to cheat Singaporeans out of the equivalent of US$5 million in the first quarter of the year in the city state has surfaced in Hong Kong as fraudsters impersonate tech support staff to dupe victims.
The crooks told people their computers had been infected by viruses as part of a scam designed to get them to reveal their bank details, police said on Tuesday.
A police source revealed that about 20 Hongkongers had fallen victim to the scam in recent months.
One victim reported losing more than HK$1 million (US$128,000), which sparked a public warning from the force.
Another victim, a retired man in his 50s, was cheated out of HK$390,000 last Friday.
The Sha Tin resident received a pop-up message on his computer that claimed it was infected with a virus and asked him to contact tech support from the operating system immediately.
“A fraudster impersonating a tech support staff demanded access to the victim’s computer, supposedly to conduct a scan and remove viruses,” another source said.
“Another scammer posing as a policeman later telephoned him, claiming the ‘tech staff’ was a hacker.
“The victim was asked to provide his bank account details and passwords, saying it was to make an arrest.”
The victim realised he had been conned out of the six-figure sum after he found the money had been transferred out of his bank account in three transactions on the same day.
Police said in an alert posted by the Anti-Deception Coordination Centre that fraudsters first made contact through fake error messages on websites visited by victims, with people directed to call a support number.
“‘Access to this PC has been blocked for security reasons’ is one message scammers use, with computer users then instructed to call tech support,” police said.
“They may also put your browser in full screen mode and display pop-up messages that won’t go away, apparently locking your browser.
“These fake error messages are designed to scare you into calling their ‘tech support hotline’.”
The force added the fake hotline staff offered “solutions”, and either requested payment or asked victims to “install applications that give remote access to their device and payment details such as bank card numbers and SMS verification codes to steal bank account funds”.
One of the sources advised anyone who saw suspicious pop-up messages to immediately leave the website or shut down their computers.
The insider said tech support scams had affected residents in other countries, as well as Singapore, and that the numbers affected in Hong Kong had risen in recent months.
Singapore police revealed in March that they had logged at least 78 reports of such scams since January.
The city state’s police said fraudsters who claimed to be law enforcement officers used the remote access function and pretended to help victims make a report through a fake website.
“Subsequently, the scammers would direct the victims to log into their internet banking account on the pretext of helping to apprehend the ‘hackers’,” they added.
“Once the victim is logged in, the scammers will use the remote access function to perform unauthorised transactions using the victim’s bank account.”
Police in Hong Kong reminded the public never to reveal their bank account details or passwords.
“Don’t give remote access to your computer to someone who contacts you unexpectedly,” the force added.
Police also appealed to the public to use the force’s Scameter search engine, accessible through the CyberDefender website or app, to check for suspicious or fraudulent schemes.
The search engine has information that can help the public identify suspicious web addresses, emails, platform usernames, bank accounts, mobile phone numbers and IP addresses.
