The SUN HK : FDHs most likely to fall victims to employment fraud, police say

Filipino DHs are told about the 5 most common scams in Hong Kong

Despite frequent reports about foreign domestic helpers getting entangled in money laundering after passing on their bank ATMs and other information to scammers, this is not what they often fall victim to, say the police.

Rather, it is the offer for them to engage in parttime work without leaving home.

This was what Senior Insp Joey Wan Pik-yee told a group of some 100 newly arrived Filipino domestic workers who took part in the “Be a Smart Helper” seminar organized by the New Territories South Police Command and held at their Tsuen Wan headquarters.

PINDUTIN DITO!

About the same number of Indonesian helpers were given their own briefing on the same topic

According to Wan, this kind of deception involves an offer to netizens to earn easy money by working parttime as “click farmers”. Victims are asked to put goods in shopping carts, and then show screenshots of the cart to them.

After this, the victims are told to deposit the shopping amount into a designated personal bank account which, of course, is controlled by the scammers. The victim is then given a large “commission” from this sale, which pushes them to start buying up online to rack up their earnings.

The fraud unravels when the victim no longer has money to transfer to the designated account, and the person he/she was in touch with can no longer be contacted. The account she pays money to also becomes inaccessible.

Online employment fraud lures in FDHs the most

Another scam many OFWs fall for is fraudulent online shopping. This places the victim in either of two roles – as a seller or a buyer.

In the first category, the seller instructs the buyer who expresses interest in attractively priced goods to transfer money to a designated account. The pretend seller buyer disappears after receiving the payment but does not deliver the goods.

Conversely, the scammer may pose as a buyer, often of expensive items being sold online, then deposits a cheque to the seller’s account, before asking for an urgent delivery. It is only after the goods are delivered that the conned seller finds out that the cheque deposited to his/her account did not clear.

In these cases, Wan said it is always better to trade face to face and to use actual money for payment. This will also prevent the buyer finding out later that the actual items delivered by the seller do not match the description or photos posted online.

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

Wan also warned the audience about falling for the romance scam, where she says, the victim is often a woman who gets wooed not for love, but for whatever money could be squeezed from her by her cybernet lover.

But she warned against stereotyping the victims in these scams, saying they are often well-educated women with lots of money, and are not as gullible as some people imagine.

An online lover who starts telling sob stories to curry favors is likely a scammer

Usually the predators lurk in dating sites, and post pictures of hunks to easily lure women. Wan suggested making a reverse check of such photos on google to know whether they had been used by scammers previously to get a quick buck off women looking for love.

“Maybe he’s not really handsome, or not even a man,” Wan said, eliciting laughter from the audience.

Once the woman is hooked, the scammer would start making up “emergency excuses” such as someone dear was gravely ill, to get the victim to send money. Some even go as far as sending photos of a critically ill patient in hospital to gain sympathy, and money.

BASAHIN ANG DETALYE

As in all the other scams, the handsome, caring and utterly lovable lover would disappear once the victim runs out of money.

The other scams involve gaining control of other people's personal information through phishing, and then using these to drain money from their bank accounts.

Phishing occurs when a scammer, masquerading as a trusted source or entity like a bank, dupes the victim into opening a link and providing personal information such as a password and phone number and email address, to gain access to their bank accounts or online wallets.

For FDWs, says Mak, this often happens when the name of a known courier company is used to send a message about the arrival of a package. Once the helper clicks on the link and provides crucial information her bank account or online wallet would be emptied.

In other reported cases, the message sent is purportedly a warning about a huge sum being transferred from the victim’s bank account, and along with it, a link to cancel the supposed transfer.

In many of these scams, the fraud would eventually involve the victim being lured into making huge investments with a supposedly high and immediate rate of return, as in crypto currencies. But again, once the victim’s sources of fund are drained, the scammers disappear.

Possibly the only deception case that could turn a victim into a co-conspirator in a crime as serious as money laundering is when she allows another person to gain control of her bank account, often by passing on her ATM card along with her PIN, or personal identity number.

ATM fraud could land you in jail for money laundering, FDHs are told

This paves the way for criminal syndicates to funnel money they made from illegal activities including scams, through the accounts they were given access to, and on to secret places abroad.

This, said Wan, is the reason why only the bit players in large-scale frauds are often left holding the bag while the masterminds go scot-free.

“It only takes a minute or so to transfer money overseas, where they become untraceable,” she said.

To avoid falling into this trap, she advised the anti-scam participants to never sell, lend or pawn their ATMs to anyone, as the consequences to them could be severe. They would likely end up in jail, and not be allowed to work in Hong Kong anymore.

“So don’t be greedy,” was her oft-repeated advice to her audience.

Finally, she advised helpers, especially those looking after elderly employer, to be alert when they hear them talking strangely while on the phone. When told that the call was about some purported emergency they should stay calm and verify the story as soon as possible.

If they are still in doubt they should advise their employer to hang up the phone immediately and call the police anti-scam helpline, 18222.

“Anti-scam starts with you!” said the last of the slides that Wan presented.

The seminar was organized by the New Territories South Police Headquarters, in coordination with the Philippine and Indonesian consulates general, and two employment agency federations: the Hong Kong Union of Employment Agencies and the Asosiasi Perusahaan Penempatan Tenaga Kerja Terampil.