The Internet is a wonderful factory of magic and whimsy. It’s a place where we browse for cat videos, buy ironic t-shirts and yell at strangers about sports.
For all its positives, please remember that some people use it for nefarious purposes. Online scams and catfishing are very much a reality of cyber life, and it appears it’s getting quite serious.
Police discovered that online relationship scams have rose 26 percent from 2013 to 2014 for a total of 29 cases, as reported by Apple Daily. The amount of money scammed over the same period of time rose by 191 percent to a HKD30 million.
In one particular case last year, a 50-year-old victim was scammed 32 times over the span of 10 months, wiring over HKD9 million to an overseas account. Seriously though. Why?
The scammers are typically foreign professionals who are “fishing for the big catch”. Their usual strategies include building a rapport with the victim over several months before inventing a situation such as a medical emergency or financial problems.
So far this year there have been nine cases of scamming reported for a total of HKD3.45 million. The victims are mostly female divorcees whose ages range from 23 to 60 years of age and backgrounds range from white-collar workers to the service industry.
The best thing you can do to prepare against these scumbags? Stay alert, be wary about meeting people online, and don’t send strangers your money.
Photo: Marcie Casas from Flickr
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