Its biggest fraud ... a call that costs an elderly woman $ 33 million in Hong Kong

Hong Kong police reported that a 90-year-old woman has stolen $ 33 million from fraudsters after pretending to be Chinese officials.

The victim was a 90-year-old woman who lived in the Peak District, the most affluent part of the city, on a mountain overlooking Hong Kong Island, police said Tuesday.

Fraudsters called the woman last summer and pretended to be officials of the Chinese security services, telling her that her identity had been used fraudulently in a criminal case in mainland China.

They told her that she must make transfers to accounts belonging to false investigators, to protect her wealth and for investigation purposes, according to the "South China Morning Post" newspaper, quoting police sources.

The police said that a person came after a few days to the victim's house to deliver a phone to her to communicate with the fraudulent security personnel, who then convinced her to make 11 bank transfers.

Over a period of five months, the woman transferred a total of $ 32.4 million, the largest amount stolen in the city in a phone fraud.

Police said that the fraud was discovered after the elderly woman called her daughter and shared her suspicions.

A 19-year-old was arrested on fraud charges and released on bail.