Cynthia Chan
Twelve people, including a woman, have been arrested for allegedly cheating victims of HK$4.5 million in 95 cases of phone scams.
The police broke the syndicate in a two-day operation that ended last Friday. The scams involved offering low-interest-rate loans and preying on the elderly.
The alleged scammers, aged between 15 and 35, were arrested for conspiracy to defraud.
They included three secondary students, two transportation workers, a construction worker and a cleaning worker. The others claimed they were unemployed.
The three students helped to meet victims and collect money from them.
Among the 95 cases, 81 are loan frauds involving HK$3.4 million from victims aged between 21 and 64, with HK$270,000 the highest amount in a single case.
Fraudsters pretended to be staff from local banks or solicitors, and telephoned the victims randomly, saying they could provide low-interest-rate loans, according to police.
They then demanded 10 percent of the loans as security deposits, with amounts ranging from HK$10,000 to HK$270,000. The scammers disappeared after receiving the deposit.
In the other 14 scams, the targets were mainly aged from 56 to 89.
The scammers pretended to be family members or friends of the victims. They…
