Scams are evolving every day. Hong Kong Police has setup the Anti-Scam Hotline recently so that the scammers invented the new tactic. Not sure you guys (admins) on this website probably have heard this but for me this sounds new, that scammers can take over anyone's phone number to call somebody else. Is this new?
It doesn't say in this article but other source says the scammers used the app to create fake number and the father believed the scammers kidnapped her because he received a call from his daughter's mobile number.
(1st I thought you have to switch off your phone number for scammers to take over your number but it is not the case. The fact scammers asked the daughter to switch off the phone so that the father can't call daughter. So that means basically, now the scammers can basically take over anyone's phone number!!)
=========================================================
Con artists strike again
Con artists appear to have changed tactics after the police set up an advisory hotline in an attempt to curb scams.
The latest victims are a father and daughter, surnamed Chu, who were cheated out of HK$17,000 by a so-called "immigration officer."
The 18-year-old daughter, a year one student at a Taiwanese university who is spending her summer break back in Hong Kong, reported to Tseung Kwan O police at 8pm Tuesday that she had received a call from an "immigration officer" who later forwarded the call to a self-proclaimed law enforcement officer.
The officer told her she was suspected of involvement in a criminal case and asked her to provide information about her father, including his telephone number and to deposit HK$6,100 into a mainland bank account. She was then asked to switch off her phone.
The scammer then called her father, saying he had kidnapped the daughter and demanded a ransom of 10,000 yuan to set her free.
After paying the ransom, the father realized his daughter was safe and had not been kidnapped.
Scammers used the same tactic on a 22-year-old woman, surnamed Law, a third year university student who also studies in Taiwan.
She received a call on Tuesday from a stranger who claimed to be a legal officer who then transferred the call to an officer from the mainland.
Law deposited HK$13,000 into two mainland bank accounts using three transactions. The case was reported to the police at 9pm.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-n ... ?id=185608