Retired Hong Kong woman loses $1.6m in online military doctor romance scam

A retired Hong Kong woman in her 60s has lost over HK$1.6 million after falling victim to a sophisticated online romance scam involving a fraudster posing as a Chinese-American military doctor.

The case is part of a broader surge in romance scams, with local police reporting over 10 similar cases in the past week alone, resulting in total losses approaching HK$5 million.

According to the Hong Kong Police Force's cybersecurity Facebook page, CyberDefender, the victim originally connected with the scammer through Facebook.

The fraudster claimed to be a Chinese-American doctor serving with the United States military, currently deployed to Iraq under a United Nations mission. The individual quickly built a rapport with the victim, sending affectionate WhatsApp messages daily until their interaction blossomed into an online romantic relationship.

Once trust was established, the scammer fabricated a story about wanting to apply for early retirement from the military.

He claimed he needed to pay an early retirement application fee and secure airfare to return to the United States before he could unlock a pension worth over US$6 million (~ HK$50 million).

To entice the victim, the fraudster urged her to take out loans to cover these costs, promising to reward her with over HK$7 million once they met in person.

Believing the false promises, the victim complied with the instructions and made multiple money transfers into several different personal bank accounts.

It was only after losing more than HK$1.6 million that she realized she had been deceived, leaving her both heartbroken and financially devastated.

In light of the incident, the police have issued a public reminder urging citizens to verify the identities of people they meet online.

Authorities advise the public to request video calls to confirm who they are speaking with and strongly caution against transferring funds to unfamiliar personal bank accounts.

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓