In Hong Kong's largest love scam so far, a businesswoman lost HK$180 million (~S$31.5 million) to a swindler over four years reported the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

This broke the previous record of HK$26.4 million (~S$4.6 million) lost by a 56-year-old woman between 2017 and 2018.

Never met in person before

The 66-year-old businesswoman, who is a widow, runs a real estate investment company in Hong Kong. She first met the scammer on dating website Lovestruck in Apr. 2014.

They subsequently formed an online relationship that lasted for four years, during which they never met.

Barely a month after they connected online, the "engineer from Britain" claimed he was facing some financial issues for an engineering project and requested money from the woman. He promised to pay the money back once the project was completed.

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According to SCMP, the elderly woman transferred money to the scammer to several bank accounts in Hong Kong, Britain, Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, mainland China, and Germany. There were over 200 transactions in the four year period.

However, in July this year, she suddenly lost contact with the "British engineer", reported Hong Kong-based Chinese language newspaper Wen Wei Po.

She later only realised she was being scammed after talking to her family.

Lonely hearts

According to SCMP, Hong Kong's longest-running love scam was over a period of eight years.

Similarly, the victim, a finance manager, never met the swindler in person.

Still, she transferred HK$14 million (~S$2.5 million) over to the "British film director" she met online.

SCMP reported that most swindlers in the city pretend to be white male professionals when meeting potential victims on online platforms.

Although victims said they knew of such love scams through media reports, they could not believe that they would fall victim themselves.

SCMP reported that 90 per cent of love scam victims in Hong Kong were women.

Singapore's experience

Singapore is also not exempt to such cases. A total of S$37 million was lost to love scams in 2017.

In the largest amount cheated in a single case was S$6 million.

The Singapore police have advised the public to be wary of strangers they met online, and to refrain from sending money to people they do not know well, especially if they have never met.

Top image via Xin Xin Travel