Scammers flock to WhatsApp

Eunice Lam

Scammers are turning to instant messaging platform WhatsApp in new tactics to send invitations for paid movie reviews and questionnaires to lure victims with rewards or payments.

The Standard was shown messages two readers received on WhatsApp recently.

The platform is the most used social media app in Hong Kong and had more than 6.61 million users by the end of 2021.

One of the senders identified herself as Sandy Wong from a media company. She said her company was looking for movie raters and reviewers at a daily rate of HK$800 to HK$3,000, and candidates could get HK$130 for a sample review.

"Enjoy your movies and let us pay you to watch them. May I send you the sample job right away?" Wong wrote.

Wong said she was an employee of Pacific View Media, which is a US-based media consultancy founded by a Chinese, Yu Lina.

But on the company's website, as well as Yu's Weibo profile, the company says it specializes in technology and medical fields and movie rating is not on its list of services.

Scammers then typically ask for the message receivers' personal data or to pay administration fees first before they get their payment or reward.

In another "paid-questionnaire invitation," the sender, Vera, said she was from a film company doing research on Hong Kong's movie industry and offered to pay the receiver HK$126 for answering three questions.

But she stopped after asking "are you interested?" without sending the questions.

Another common approach is for WhatsApp scammers to disguise themselves as human resources consultants who say they have a job with "flexible hours" and are reaching out to the receiver upon recommendation from manpower firms.

All three invitations were sent from business accounts. WhatsApp detected the sender's accounts were not in the receivers' contacts, and offered options for the receiver to block or report the accounts.

"Police appeal to the public to find jobs through reliable channels, pay attention to job advertisements which offer high salary but do not have any requirements regarding academic qualifications or work experience, and to not give personal information to others indiscriminately," a spokeswoman said. "If in doubt, input phone numbers or social media account names in "scameter" to assess risk or call 18222 for inquiries."

She was referring to the police anti-fraud search engine scameter launched last September - as well as its "scameter+" app launched in February - which allows people to check sellers' credibility by inputting their contact information and bank accounts provided.

An Office of Communications Authority spokeswoman said instant messaging tools such as WhatsApp are different from SMS so it is not regulated as a telecommunication service.

The telecom watchdog reminded the public to stay vigilant to unidentified calls, SMS texts and messages received on instant messaging apps, and to never disclose personal information or transfer money to unknown parties.

The authority on Tuesday said mobile users will be warned of suspected telephone scams from overseas when the calling number displays "+852" starting from next month.

WhatsApp has also become a vehicle for cryptocurrency investment scams, with a 44-year-old female architect losing more than HK$24 million over the digital coin tether, sources said.

The architect, who lives in Tai Po, made a report to police on Tuesday. She fell victim to investment fraud when a scammer impersonated a Taiwanese male architect who befriended her through WhatsApp in June last year.

She was lured to make 65 transactions to designated bank accounts until January this year, involving HK$24.5 million.

A similar scam happened to a man named Cheung, who lost HK$570,000 in a bitcoin scam after being approached on WhatsApp to fill in a "paid questionnaire." Cheung reported to police yesterday when he could not withdraw his assets.

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com