Ex-districts rep remanded in custody as fraud case adjourned

Former district councilor Wong Chun-yeung was remanded in custody on Thursday after appearing in court over a fraud case where he allegedly cheated elderly women out of HK$970,000 in nine "guess who" telephone scams.

The 28-year-old former Islands District councillor appeared at a Kwun Tong magistrates' court this morning, after he was found to be involved in the scams between May 29 and June 5 that took in women aged 71 to 93.

The magistrate adjourned the case to September 28 upon the prosecution’s request, with Wong required to be remanded in custody.

The court heard that one of the victims, a 90-year-old who lives in Kwun Tong, received a call from a man who claimed to be her son on May 30.

The woman was swindled out of HK$100,000 after the caller claimed to have been detained over a criminal case and needed the cash as bail money for his release.

A police spokesman said yesterday that the woman filed a police report on May 30, with the arrest made in Tseung Kwan O on Monday.

Police said further investigations revealed that Wong was allegedly involved in eight other "guess who" telephone scams throughout the city where he cheated about HK$670,000.

The spokesman said Wong's syndicate became active from mid-May to early June. Wong had at one stage assigned a subordinate to collect the money.

The syndicate recruits other people on social media platforms to collect HK$1,000 to HK$1,500 a day and targets elderly, who tended to keep their savings at home instead of at a bank.

The spokesman added the investigation is ongoing and didn't rule out the possibility of more arrests.

The spokesman slammed the syndicate for taking advantage of concern by the elderly for their children and appealed to the public to report suspicious phone calls and dial the anti-scam helpline 18222 to report them.

Wong won the district council election in 2019 and served Islands district as an independent.

But in October 2021, he was among 16 district councillors who were disqualified when authorities invalidated their oaths.