Fraudsters have tricked a German technology firm’s Hong Kong branch into transferring more than HK$11mil into two bank accounts in one of the city’s biggest email scams this year.An email scammer impersonating a boss from its headquarters in Germany asked the director of the Hong Kong branch in emails sent in March to transfer the money, claiming the head office needed the funds for acquisition purposes.
As instructed, the director transferred HK$11.36mil in total into two local bank accounts through seven transactions between March 7 and 9. Email scammers typically hack into the email systems of the target company or its business partners and spy on their exchanges. Fraudsters then use the information to impersonate senior managers of the company or its business partners and order money transfers using different excuses.