Nearly 100 students from 2 universities in Hong Kong lose HK$75 million in scams
Hong Kong Free Press
Nearly 100 students from two public universities, the University of Hong Kong and the City University of Hong Kong, have lost HK$75 million after falling victim to scams.
In an internal email sent to students last Thursday, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) said “over 60 HKU students have been victims of scams in recent months, resulting in financial losses exceeding HK$60 million.”
The City University of Hong Kong (CityU) also told HKFP on Monday that more than 30 students were scammed last year, involving losses of about HK$15 million.
“CityU has been cooperating with the police tightly, and an inter-departmental task force has been set up for the matter,” a CityU spokesperson said in an emailed reply in Chinese to HKFP.
The internal HKU email, which HKFP has seen, contained a message from the university’s Centre of Development and Resources for Students, which also required students to complete an anti-scam questionnaire provided by the Hong Kong Police Force by February 10 to raise awareness and protect them from scams.
“Failure to do so may result in the suspension of access to library and learning commons,” the email said.
CityU has also demanded all students complete an anti-scam questionnaire “jointly designed by the university and the police” by the end of the semester, the spokesperson said.
HKU’s anti-scam questionnaire contained 35 questions in both English and simplified Chinese, Ming Pao reported, with most questions focusing on scam scenarios, such as online shopping and investment deceptions, as well as receiving calls from people claiming to be mainland officials.
Most of the 60 HKU students were first-year undergraduate students from mainland China, and the scams occurred mainly in September and October last year, when the semester had just begun, according to sources quoted by Ming Pao.
In a Chinese-language statement emailed to the media, an HKU spokesperson said the anti-scam questionnaire ”seeks to let students, especially mainland students newly arrived in Hong Kong, understand the matter… and strengthen their anti-scam awareness.”
Bogus authorities
Police said in December that there were 36,405 fraud cases in the first 10 months of 2024, including almost 900 cases of scammers posing as mainland government officials.
Around a third of the victims deceived by bogus officials were university students, police said. Of these, around 70 per cent were mainland Chinese students, they added.
At that time, police reminded the public that mainland Chinese police would never call them, and law enforcement agencies would not ask people to transfer any money or require them to terminate contact with their family members.
An HKU postgraduate student was recently tricked by scammers posing as mainland police officers to travel to Thailand, with the scammers demanding HK$10 million ransom for her safety, Ming Pao also reported.
The daughter returned to Hong Kong safely and did not suffer any financial losses after her parents reported the case to Hong Kong police, according to the newspaper.
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