The police force said on Friday that among some 1,600 cases recorded this year, 906 cases have seen the fraudsters pretending to be government officials, with the cases leading to combined losses of HK$663 million.

The force noted that up to 13 percent of the victims in the “fake official” scams are elderly aged 61 or above, with the oldest one being an 86-year-old woman who lost HK$1.94 million after the fraudsters accused her of “spreading fake news of the Covid vaccine on the mainland.”

Meanwhile, a 96-year-old man had fallen victim to the “guess who” scam, with the man receiving a cold call from the fraudster impersonating his son. The caller then instructed the man to hand over HK$30,000 at a Kwun Tong bus stop to “bail his son out of jail.”

The force said their Senior Police Call scheme has been collaborating with different parties since 2015 to help elderlies in the city identify suspected fraud.