People are urged to be wary of online investment scams

Police on Monday urged people to think twice before turning to social media or web forums for financial advice after police recorded around 3,500 cases of online investment fraud in the first nine months of the year.

The officials said total reported losses reached HK$2.2 billion, although both the amount of money scammed and the number of cases fell by about 20 percent compared to the same period in 2023.

Senior Inspector Wan Pik-yee said there was an increasing trend of fraudsters impersonating police officers.

“They opened some WhatsApp groups with our logo as the profile picture to convince victims that they are really police officers and ask them to provide some bank account details to defraud their money,” Wan said.

Michelle Yeung, head of investor education and stakeholder engagement at the Investor and Financial Education Council, said more people were scammed this year by falling for fake online advertisements.

“When I listen to or look at the advice given on social media, I don’t think there’s anything wrong. But when it comes to asking you to join a group or click on any links, that’s really a problem,” she said.

“So with all the information we receive from social media or online, it is always worth looking for alternative sources to check whether this information is genuine.”