Warning issued after university student loses HK$190,000 in internship scam

Police have advised students to verify job offers directly with companies.

Photo: Jonathan Wong English-speaking con artists have targeted university students seeking summer internships, using a bogus 40-minute orientation session to make their dubious job offers appear genuine, Hong Kong police have warned.

The force issued the alert after a 19-year-old university first-year student fell for a dubious job offer last month and lost nearly HK$190,000, saying the scammers had prepared detailed scripts to deceive her and conducted the fraudulent recruitment process in English.

The force’s Anti-Deception Coordination Centre (ADCC) said the student had applied for several internship positions on LinkedIn in early March.

She became embroiled in the scam after responding to a message from an organisation claiming to be an “employment agency.” It informed her that the research assistant and project assistant roles she had applied for were already filled and immediately recommended another part-time job that required only a laptop and allowed her to work from home.

Anti-Deception Coordination Centre have urged students to be wary of job offers that promised high pay without specific requirements.

Photo: Jelly Tse “To increase their credibility, the fraudsters communicated with the victim entirely in fluent English, introducing the so-called company’s background, business model and her duties,” police said on their website.

They added that the scammers had even arranged a 40-minute online “induction training” session for her.

After the training, the victim was told to log in to a company website set up by the scammers.

She was given an “internal account” and instructed to earn commissions by using her own money to “buy products” as part of her duties.

According to police, the fraudsters initially deposited three small “commission” payments into her bank account, with the largest amounting to about HK$7,000 (US$893).

The student continued to follow their instructions and made multiple transactions, eventually losing nearly HK$190,000 before realising she had been scammed.

This type of online employment fraud, known as “boosting sales,” involves victims being told their job is to increase a product’s popularity or sales by making online purchases with their own money.

Scammers promise to reimburse them afterwards.

Police said the scammers also offered small initial cash rewards to lure victims into making more transactions and larger payments.

Police ha

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