Scammers impersonate Vivian Kong for charity fraud

People were urged to remain vigilant after scammers were found impersonating Vivian Kong Man-wai, the gold medalist fencer, and soliciting monetary donations from the public.

Kong, who made history by winning the city's first-ever women's epee gold medal at the Paris Olympics, had earlier announced plans to establish a HK$6 million fund to support young athletes.

However, some criminals have taken advantage of Kong's generous initiative, creating a fraudulent "Vivian Kong Foundation" page on Facebook and soliciting monetary donations from the public.

According to screenshots circulated online, the fake page claims the foundation was established on Tuesday to support the Hong Kong fencing team and the potential athletes. 

The page even promises donors an Olympic souvenir and a Hong Kong team t-shirt in exchange for successful bank transfers to an Alipay account under the name "Kong Man Wai Vivian."

The incident comes after scammers were found to have impersonated another gold medalist fencer Edgar Cheung Ka-long and asked people to transfer money to him.

The criminal also provided an electronic payment code and guaranteed that if they helped, he would add them to the personal fan group and share the HK$6 million gold medal cash bonus with them.