Filipina Architect in Hong Kong loses USD100,000 in online investment scam, 4 Pinoys involved in the case
From HK$200 signed into a Bitcoin Investment, a female Filipino architect in Hong Kong lost a total of US$100,000 in an online scam for the past few days of the month of April this year.
Joy (not her real name), said that although she earns a lot in practicing her profession, it still hurts to lose a large amount of her hard-earned money as an architect.
The registered architect in the Philippines’ own office in HK has clients in various countries such as Singapore, Australia, Maldives, and others.
Joy said she was familiar with investing money as she has some investments in different ways, even in Bitcoin.
That’s why when she received the text on her telegram account from someone named Brian and Felicia and offered to invest, she immediately trusted them.
They even showed her an account of her investment in the company showing figures of the amount she transferred and its respective earnings.
In Joy’s police statement, the names to which she sent the money were stated and some of them are Filipino names having bank accounts in Hong Kong.
On April 10, she signed up to join the online investment company for HK$200.
On the same day, Felicia instructed her to transfer from her bank to different accounts totaling HK$42,000. In the two bank transactions she made, they were transferred to Carmela Tangalin Villaraza in her Mox Bank account. One account was transferred to a Chinese name, Chiu Tak Cheung, at the same bank.
Between April 12 to April 13, Joy was instructed to transfer her money to bank accounts of three Filipino names with a total of more than HK$1 Million: Joralden Hanom Baluyos (at Standard Chartered Bank), Galapon Panica Adlos, and Ocampo Cheryl Landero, both in HSBC bank account.
From her investment account, HK$300,000 were deposited back into her bank account as earnings from her investment. (Later she realized it was from her investment money).
When she was asked to deposit an amount of HK$120,000 for payment of her tax for the investment she made, that was the time she questioned the scammer and thought that she was scammed.
Joy, immediately reported the case to the Police station and submitted a written statement, and her online communication with the scammers as evidence.
The case is now in the hands of Hong Kong police and an investigation is undergoing, Joy said.
As of recent communication with the police, the police notified her that the bank accounts of the Filipinos were frozen.
On May 17, the police arrested 15 local persons in online love scams. It was reported in the media that the HK family living in a high-end duplex was running love scams that raked in HK$21 Million.
On May 18, HK police arrested 10 people, aged 19 and 60, on online scams worth HK$31 Million on 52 victims. Most of them were holders of bank accounts used to collect the scammed money
