Hong Kong police warned the residents on its CyberDefender Facebook page on Monday to sharpen their eyes against the internet scammers who hijack WhatsApp accounts.
Police alerted that over 130 people have fallen victim within one week after the scammer successfully hacked some WhatsApp accounts in the city and duped other people on their users’ contact lists. The losses have summed up to more than HK$1.7 million (US$217,300) last week, police said.
“In most cases, the victims received WhatsApp messages from scammers posing as their relatives or friends, who claimed there was an urgent need for money due to emergencies. The victims were asked to transfer the money as soon as possible,” police said.
Afterwards, the victims would realise that it was a fraud on speaking to the owner of the account after the money had been sent, the police said.
Police said that the swindlers would normally send phishing text messages having links that direct to fake websites and then fashion out all sorts of ways to justify what they say to trick WhatsApp users into disclosing their account verification codes. The fraudster would thereafter get authority over their accounts and pose as them to defraud the victim on their contact list.
Swindlers could also gain access to a user’s account if the victim scanned a QR code on the page, which would connect it with the swindler’s device and allow them to scam their contacts, the force said.
Police reiterated “If you receive a text message asking for money or a bank transfer request from friends or relatives, please remember to call and confirm first".
The force told the public on Tuesday to “avoid disclosing passwords and verification codes casually or scanning QR codes without verifying”.
Police also urged people to use the force’s “Scameter” search engine, accessible through the CyberDefender website, to check for suspicious or fraudulent activity.
The scameter search engine can help identify suspicious web addresses, emails, platform usernames, bank accounts, mobile phone numbers and IP addresses, police added.
According to the record reported via SCMP, a 42.6 per cent increase in all types of deception to 39,824 cases last year from 27,923 reports logged in 2022. The amount lost rose by 89 per cent to HK$9.1 billion in 2023 from HK$4.8 billion the year before.
香港警方警告稱，一周內 130 人受騙後，WhatsApp 數量激增
香港警方週一在其 CyberDefender Facebook 頁面上警告居民，要提高警惕，警惕劫持 WhatsApp 帳戶的網路詐騙者。
警方提醒稱，詐騙者成功入侵一些 WhatsApp 帳戶並欺騙用戶聯絡人清單中的其他人後，一周內已有 130 多人成為受害者。 警方表示，上週損失總計超過 170 萬港元（217,300 美元）。
「在大多數情況下，受害者會收到冒充親戚或朋友的詐騙者發來的 WhatsApp 訊息，騙子聲稱因緊急情況急需用錢。 警方要求受害者盡快轉帳。”
警方稱，受害者在匯款後與帳戶所有者交談後就會意識到這是一場詐騙。
警方表示，騙子通常會發送帶有指向虛假網站鏈接的網絡釣魚短信，然後想出各種方法來證明自己的言論合理，誘騙 WhatsApp 用戶洩露帳戶驗證碼。 騙子隨後會
取得他們帳戶的權限並冒充他們來詐騙聯絡人名單上的人。
警方表示，如果受害者掃描頁面上的二維碼，詐騙者還可以存取用戶的帳戶，該二維碼會將其與詐騙者的設備連接起來，並允許他們欺騙他們的聯絡人。
警方重申，「如果您收到親友索要金錢或銀行轉帳的短信，請記得先打電話確認」。
警方週二告訴公眾，「避免隨意洩露密碼和驗證碼，或在未經驗證的情況下掃描二維碼」。
警方還敦促人們使用警方的「Scameter」搜尋引擎（可透過 CyberDefender 網站存取）來檢查可疑或詐欺活動。
警方補充說，scameter 搜尋引擎可以幫助識別可疑的網址、電子郵件、平台用戶名、銀行帳戶、手機號碼和 IP 位址。
根據《南華早報》報告的記錄，各類詐騙案件從2022 年的27,923 起舉報增加到去年的39,824 起，增加了42.6%。損失金額從2022 年的48 億港元增加到2023 年的91 億港元，增加了89%。前。
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