81 Hongkongers swindled out of HK$12 million in online job scams

Eighty-one Hongkongers have been conned out of more than HK$12 million (US$1.5 million) over a week after falling victim to bogus online job offers, police have said.

The force reminded the public to remain vigilant against employment fraud in an alert posted on its CyberDefender Facebook page on Monday.

Officers handled 1,447 reports of all types of online job scams between January and June this year, with financial losses amounting to HK$334 million.

Police said they received 81 reports of online employment fraud on their CyberDefender page last week, adding the total scammed amount reached as much as HK$12.3 million.

One of the victims was duped out of more than HK$400,000 in a “click-farming” job scam after receiving a WhatsApp message.

“The scammer purported to offer online promotional work and shared a fake website link,” the force said, noting the man followed the instructions to register and log in to the website to perform “click farming” tasks.

“Subsequently, another trickster pretended to be a customer service representative from the website and coaxed the victim into making multiple money transfers.”