German firm had been conducting business with supplier from mainland China via email and was allegedly tricked by criminals into making transfer. In separate case involving European firm, Hong Kong-listed pharmaceutical company says its subsidiary in Italy had fallen victim to suspected fraud involving €11.7mil. — SCMP
Hong Kong police have launched an investigation into an email scam after receiving a report from a German pharmaceutical company that it had been swindled out of more than €3mil (RM15.34mil), the Post has learned.
In a separate Internet fraud case involving a European firm, a Hong Kong-listed pharmaceutical company on Monday said its subsidiary in Italy had fallen victim to a suspected telecoms fraud involving €11.7mil (RM59.83mil).
A source familiar with the German case said on Monday that the company had transferred more than €3.16mil (RM16.16mil) into a bank account in mainland China after falling victim to the scam. He said the German firm had been conducting business with a supplier from the mainland via email.
“Last month, the company received an email purportedly sent out from the supplier, requesting a transfer of €3.16mil (RM16.16mil) into a bank account in the mainland,” the insider said.
The German company complied and made the money transfer, he said, adding the firm realised it had been scammed when it contacted the genuine supplier.
Hong Kong police launched an investigation into the case after the German company made a report via a law firm in the city on Dec 21.
It was not clear the extent to which the alleged crime involved Hong Kong.
Separately, the Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical Group, listed in Hong Kong, said its wholly owned subsidiary – Techdow Pharma Italy – was suspected to have been defrauded recently as a result of telecoms fraud.
The group said its case involved about €11.7mil (RM59.83mil).
“[Shenzhen Hepalink] promptly reported the incident to the police after discovering the fraud,” it said in an English statement. “The police have opened a case file and commenced criminal investigations into the matter.”
A Chinese version of the statement said the case was reported to the “local” police.
According to the announcement, the company’s management was reviewing the incident carefully and had adopted measures to enhance its internal control management, corporate governance and risk awareness.
“As the investigation into the incident is ongoing, the outcome is still uncertain, and may have potential impact on the company’s financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023,” it said.
The Post has reached out to police for comment.
In the first six months in 2023, police handled 96 reports of email scam involving the losses of HK$62.3mil (RM37.31mil). The number of email scams decreased from 816 in 2019 to 391 in 2022. The amount of money fraudulently obtained also dropped from HK$2.53bil (RM1.51bil) in 2019 to HK$751mil (RM449.84mil) in 2022.
Fraudsters typically hack into the email accounts of targeted companies and businesspeople, before using the information gleaned to impersonate their business partners, clients or senior executives and eventually order money transfers.
Police warn that scammers use email addresses very similar to the legitimate one.
Many of the victims and companies that fell victim to email scams are not in Hong Kong. Local police became involved because the money was transferred into bank accounts in the city. – South China Morning Post
