Hong Kong police have arrested a 15-year-old girl for allegedly being involved in seven “Guess Who I Am” a kind of phone scams in which victims, mostly elderlies living alone were scammed up to HK$1.75 million
The girl was arrested on Tuesday in Nga Tau Kok after a banker hinted to the police that an 81-year-old man was in the bank to withdraw money, informing them that a call told him his family member had been arrested and he was required to pay the bail, police said.
The girl was believed to have been recruited by fraudsters via social media platform Instagram and was only told to receive the money, police said after an investigation.
However, the girl was also suspected of being involved in six other similar scams in March, with victims aged between 66 to 87, mostly living alone across the city, police inspector Yiu Wing-lui told reporters on Tuesday.
The largest loss – involving HK$1.26 million – was suffered by an 81-year-old woman, who also received a call claiming that her son had been arrested and a sum of money was needed for bail, the inspector added.
Police said the girl was held for allegedly obtaining property by deception, punishable by up to 10 years in jail, and that further arrests could be made.
Fraudsters have been using social media platforms and friendship networks to recruit youngsters to receive money in person, after scamming elderly people by phone, police chief inspector Lau Wing-kwan said on Tuesday. The youngsters received compensation ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars, he added.
香港警方逮捕一名涉嫌電話詐騙175萬港幣的青少年
香港警方逮捕一名15歲少女，涉嫌參與7起「猜我是誰」電話詐騙案，受害者多為獨居長者，被騙金額高達175萬港元
這名女孩週二在牙頭角被捕，當時一名銀行家向警方暗示一名81歲男子正在銀行取錢，並告知警方接到電話告訴他，他的家人已被捕，他被要求警方表示，要支付保釋金。
警方調查後表示，這名女孩據信是被騙子透過社群媒體平台 Instagram 招募的，只是被告知要收錢。
然而，警方督察姚永銳週二告訴記者，該女孩還涉嫌在3月份參與了另外六起類似的詐騙案，受害者年齡在66歲至87歲之間，大多獨自居住在全市各地。
督察補充，損失最大的是一名81歲女子，涉及126萬港元，她還接到電話稱兒子被捕，需要一筆保釋金。
警方表示，這名女孩因涉嫌以欺騙手段取得財產而被拘留，最高可判處10年監禁，並可能進一步逮捕。
警方總督察劉永鈞週二表示，詐騙者在透過電話詐騙老年人後，一直利用社群媒體平台和友誼網絡招募年輕人親自收錢。 他補充說，這些年輕人獲得了數百至數千美元的賠償。
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