Police warn of fake technical support scams

In the first five months of this year, over 10,000 online fraud cases were recorded in Hong Kong, representing a year-on-year decrease of about 14%. The monetary losses increased by over 35% year-on-year, amounting to more than HK$2.1 billion, the police reported.

In the past two months, 12 cases of fake technical support scams were recorded, with losses exceeding HK$17 million, including a single case with a loss of approximately HK$10 million.

The police explained that scammers purchase ads on various platforms, and when victims visit the related websites, pop-up windows or notifications appear, disguised as error or virus warnings from the victim's operating system or antivirus software.

These pop-ups provide a phone number for the victim to seek help. The pop-up windows also force the victim's browser into full-screen mode, displaying persistent warning messages and emitting warning audio, causing the victim to panic and mistakenly believe their browser or computer is locked. This prompts them to call the number provided by the scammers.

The scammers then falsely claim that the victim's computer has been hacked and refer them to fake law enforcement officers, who use various pretexts to persuade the victim to transfer their bank deposits to accounts controlled by the scammers.

The police noted that the scammers primarily communicate with victims in English, and most victims are expatriates living in Hong Kong or individuals who can communicate in English.

The police advise the public to stay calm if they encounter similar fake error messages on their computers. They suggested holding down the exit key (ESC), opening the task manager (CTRL+ALT+DEL), or even restarting the computer to try and exit the problematic page.