A 70-year-old local elderly woman was the victim of Hong Kong’s largest romance scam in the past four weeks, losing more than HK$6 million after being tricked into fake gold investments by a man she met on Facebook, as police reported over 80 such cases with total losses exceeding HK$49 million.
The elderly woman, believing she had formed a romantic connection with someone claiming to be the CEO of a listed company, was persuaded to invest in gold for high returns.
She mortgaged her property to borrow money and made 73 bank transfers totaling over HK$5.6 million to accounts provided by the scammer.
She also handed over HK$450,000 in cash to another person on two separate occasions.
The fraud only became clear when the scammer vanished and stopped all contact.
Police highlighted this case on their CyberDefender Facebook page to warn the public, especially vulnerable elderly residents, about online romance scams.
They noted that scammers often build trust quickly online, show affection without ever meeting, then push unrealistic high-return investments, leading victims to severe financial loss.
To protect themselves, people—particularly seniors—should insist on meeting anyone in person before any financial involvement and reject promises of easy high profits.
Anyone suspicious can check risks using the Scameter tool on the CyberDefender website or the Scameter+ app.
