China News Service, April 22. According to Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po, from December last year to April this year, the Hong Kong police received a total of 13 "guess who I am" phone scams posing as the victim's son or relatives in various districts in Hong Kong. The money involved was 1.15 million yuan (Hong Kong dollars, the same below), and the victims were all elderly women.
Recently, after in-depth investigation, the police successfully broke down the "Guess Who I" deception syndicate, arrested four men and women, including two masterminds, in Fortress Hill and North Point, Hong Kong Island respectively, and prevented two elderly people from being deceived in time.
It is reported that the victims of the 13 "guess who I am" phone scams ranged in age from 65 to 92 years old, and the amount of money defrauded ranged from 40,000 to 150,000.
The swindler used the method of a fisherman to cast a net and randomly called the victim's fixed-line telephone number, pretending to be the victim's son or relative, and using various excuses to claim that a large amount of cash was needed for emergency situations, including the need for bail when being arrested by the police. Cash to the so-called son's friend.
Detectives from the Hong Kong Island Region and the New Territories South Region Intelligence Unit identified several members of the fraudulent syndicate after investigation, including viewing a large number of CCTV footage, and took action on the 20th.
The police arrested a pair of male and female swindlers who were charging a 76-year-old female elderly 70,000 yuan in a park in Fortress Hill. During the same period, they found another 88-year-old female elderly who was panicking nearby. The victim of the "Guess Who" phone scam was instructed to hand over $150,000 in cash to one of the arrested swindlers at a designated location.
Subsequently, the police searched the hotel where the two arrested scammers lived and seized a small amount of methamphetamine and some drug paraphernalia.
At the same time, according to the clues, detectives from the Criminal Division of Hong Kong Island Region arrested two male masterminds of the syndicate in a hotel in North Point.
Police said the three men and one woman were arrested, ranging in age from 29 to 43 years old, and some of them had gang backgrounds.
The investigation shows that the group operates in a high-level, middle-level, and low-level structure, with a fine division of labor. The first level is the group leader, who is responsible for planning the details of the crime, recruiting key middle-level members and manipulating other members to call the victim and remit the fraudulent money; The second layer is responsible for recruiting the most down-to-earth errands to collect money, take advantage of the situation, rent hotels to hide, and even use drugs to control their crimes.
The arrested swindlers are now involved in "conspiracy to defraud", "money laundering", "possession of drugs" and "possession of drug-taking tools" have been detained for investigation.
Police are making every effort to find the other fugitives.