Lucky Draw Organised Con Job?

[tarma69]

Bros who frequent or station in HK, pls pardon my post here for being unrelated to HK commercial sex but I really need some help.

4 months ago, my folks received a call from a company called 万达电子有限公司 informing my mom that her number has been selected for a lucky draw to be conducted in their upcoming new Orchard Road office. Thinking that it is just some run-of-the-mill prizes, they missed the draw. Later a staff from that company called to inform them that they struck a cash prize of SGD400k+ on that day of the draw. But since they were not present then, they have to claim the prize from HK as the prize money is sponsored by the HK Jockey Club.

Being eager and greedy to claim the prize, my folks followed the alternative advice to transfer "admin fees" and "lucky draw tax" etc, mounting to about SGD20k, to a certain designated 香港金融管理局外汇中心银行 account, all done without my knowledge, to facilitate the release of the funds to their SG account. My folks finally got suspicious and spilled the beans to me only when a certain "account manager" from the HK Jockey Club said that due to the foreign exchange rates fluctuation over since the day of the draw where HKD depreciated against the SGD, they now have to pay back the "depreciation cost" of another SGD5k+ before they can release the cash prize. And to alley their fears that it might be a scam, they have even invited them to their HK office to pay that depreciation cost and receive the prize in person. That account manager gave the address as "香港九龙譚达知路27号" but I can't locate on Google Map.

Has anyone experienced such incident before? Anyone knows what is the telephone number of the Jockey Club whom I can verify? It is not stated in their website www.hkjc.com. Or does anyone know if 万达电子公司 really has plans to expand to SG and that they have lucky draw prizes sponsored by the HK Jockey Club?

I'm still very sceptical but my old folks seems to be fully convinced and are begging me to fly them over to HK... I don't mind flying them over but I'm wondering if it is worth throwing more money away if it is really some kind of overseas organised con job. I've never been to HK so any constructive insight and info/leads from senior bros will be very much appreciated.

Thanks very much and my sincere apologies again for hijacking this thread.

[tarma69]

Bros who frequent or station in HK, pls pardon my post here for being unrelated to "Matters of the Heart" but I really need some help.

4 months ago, my folks received a call from a company called 万达电子有限公司 informing my mom that her number has been selected for a lucky draw to be conducted in their upcoming new Orchard Road office. Thinking that it is just some run-of-the-mill prizes, they missed the draw. Later a staff from that company called to inform them that they struck a cash prize of SGD400k+ on that day of the draw. But since they were not present then, they have to claim the prize from HK as the prize money is sponsored by the HK Jockey Club.

Being eager and greedy to claim the prize, my folks followed the alternative advice to transfer "admin fees" and "lucky draw tax" etc, mounting to about SGD20k, to a certain designated 香港金融管理局外汇中心银行 account, all done without my knowledge, to facilitate the release of the funds to their SG account. My folks finally got suspicious and spilled the beans to me only when a certain "account manager" from the HK Jockey Club said that due to the foreign exchange rates fluctuation over since the day of the draw where HKD depreciated against the SGD, they now have to pay back the "depreciation cost" of another SGD5k+ before they can release the cash prize. And to alley their fears that it might be a scam, they have even invited them to their HK office to pay that depreciation cost and receive the prize in person. That account manager gave the address as "香港九龙譚达知路27号" but I can't locate on Google Map.

Has anyone experienced such incident before? Anyone knows what is the telephone number of the Jockey Club whom I can verify? It is not stated in their website www.hkjc.com. Or does anyone know if 万达电子公司 really has plans to expand to SG and that they have lucky draw prizes sponsored by the HK Jockey Club?

I'm still very sceptical but my old folks seems to be fully convinced and are begging me to fly them over to HK... I don't mind flying them over but I'm wondering if it is worth throwing more money away if it is really some kind of overseas organised con job. I've never been to HK so any constructive insight and info/leads from senior bros will be very much appreciated.

Thanks very much!

[Ahxi]

Owned.

Depends on if you want to play along and get the police to try the money trace.

But seeing how lazy our police are and the number of scams ongoing, I doubt they will even bother.

Or you can just prepare your parents for the worst and bring them over for a holiday.

[geylangfc]

Originally Posted by tarma69

Bros who frequent or station in HK, pls pardon my post here for being unrelated to HK commercial sex but I really need some help.

4 months ago, my folks received a call from a company called 万达电子有限公司 informing my mom that her number has been selected for a lucky draw to be conducted in their upcoming new Orchard Road office. Thinking that it is just some run-of-the-mill prizes, they missed the draw. Later a staff from that company called to inform them that they struck a cash prize of SGD400k+ on that day of the draw. But since they were not present then, they have to claim the prize from HK as the prize money is sponsored by the HK Jockey Club.

Being eager and greedy to claim the prize, my folks followed the alternative advice to transfer "admin fees" and "lucky draw tax" etc, mounting to about SGD20k, to a certain designated 香港金融管理局外汇中心银行 account, all done without my knowledge, to facilitate the release of the funds to their SG account. My folks finally got suspicious and spilled the beans to me only when a certain "account manager" from the HK Jockey Club said that due to the foreign exchange rates fluctuation over since the day of the draw where HKD depreciated against the SGD, they now have to pay back the "depreciation cost" of another SGD5k+ before they can release the cash prize. And to alley their fears that it might be a scam, they have even invited them to their HK office to pay that depreciation cost and receive the prize in person. That account manager gave the address as "香港九龙譚达知路27号" but I can't locate on Google Map.

Has anyone experienced such incident before? Anyone knows what is the telephone number of the Jockey Club whom I can verify? It is not stated in their website www.hkjc.com. Or does anyone know if 万达电子公司 really has plans to expand to SG and that they have lucky draw prizes sponsored by the HK Jockey Club?

I'm still very sceptical but my old folks seems to be fully convinced and are begging me to fly them over to HK... I don't mind flying them over but I'm wondering if it is worth throwing more money away if it is really some kind of overseas organised con job. I've never been to HK so any constructive insight and info/leads from senior bros will be very much appreciated.

Thanks very much and my sincere apologies again for hijacking this thread.

Ask your folks n yourself.. Since U say HKJC right..? Where's the black n white? It seems everything is via words or telephone conversation. To me a scam thru n thru. Why don't U email HKJC to verify?

[sammyboyfor]

Originally Posted by tarma69

But since they were not present then, they have to claim the prize from HK as the prize money is sponsored by the HK Jockey Club.

Being eager and greedy to claim the prize, my folks followed the alternative advice to transfer "admin fees" and "lucky draw tax" etc, mounting to about SGD20k, to a certain designated 香港金融管理局外汇中心银行 account, all done without my knowledge, to facilitate the release of the funds to their SG account.

Your folks can kiss their money goodbye.

I can't believe such idiots still inhabit the earth in this day and age.

**************
Christchurch warned of elaborate lottery scam
BY MARTIN VAN BEYNEN
Last updated 05:00 02/09/2010
Share
A sophisticated scam has hit Christchurch from Hong Kong.

In the elaborate ruse, the target receives a letter containing two scratch tickets for a lottery offered by the Midway Financial Investment Group of Hong Kong, ostensibly to celebrate its 30th anniversary. One ticket is the winner of a lot of money and a phone number is provided to claim the prize. Callers go through several calls and steps vetting their eligibility.

The caller is then asked to call a Sunny Lee, apparently employed by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the so-called lottery's sponsor, to make a final claim.

However, Lee tells the target they have to join the club before the prize can be paid out. The joining fee is about $5000 and is refundable on the prize being paid.

A Christchurch man, who twigged to the scam at the last step, said the fraudsters sounded very plausible.

"Until the point of being asked to join the club, everything had been quite extraordinarily convincing," he said.

"The last step showed clearly this was a scam after all, albeit a brilliantly executed one. The three people I spoke to all spoke excellent English, and the brochure and associated documents were very convincing.

"Perhaps most importantly, these young con-artists were not too eager. They were doing things very calmly and deliberately, even to the doubts about whether I would be eligible.

"When I eventually said, `Come on, this is a scam' they calmly maintained the front that everything was utterly legitimate."

The Hong Kong Jockey Club told The Press it had no association with the company.

Communications manager June Teng said the club was licensed by the Government to operate the Mark Six lottery and had no part in other lottery operations.

"The one you mentioned is clearly a scam. Thank you for alerting us of this."

[sammyboyfor]

http://www.cib.gov.tw/english/News/Detail/29260

CIB takes down lottery fraud scheme2013/03/28

The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) arrested three suspects yesterday for allegedly cheating over 70 Chinese in the U.S., Malaysia and Singapore by falsely telling them that they had won the lottery.

Officials said the suspects allegedly pretended to be employees of companies based in Hong Kong, made international calls to the victims, and got the victims' personal information by telling them the companies were holding lottery events.

Then another perpetrator would call the victims and tell them of their fictional prizes, the CIB said.

Officials said apart from the three suspects they arrested, there are 10 more Chinese suspects based in mainland China who allegedly perpetrated the same fraud scheme.

The bureau said the suspects allegedly told the victims that they would have to come to Hong Kong to claim the lottery prize, and if the victims could not come in person, they would have to pay a cash deposit.

The perpetrators allegedly pretended to be members of the Hong Kong Jockey Club and asked the victims to join the club and pay membership dues of US$9,016 in order to claim the prize, the officials said.

After the victims were fooled into paying the money, the suspects allegedly suspended the telephones so the victims could not reach the suspects anymore, the bureau said.

The CIB working with Hsinchu City Police Bureau searched Greater Kaohsiung and Taoyuan, arrested the suspects and discovered evidence such as mobile phones, debit cards and account books.

Officials said they contacted and questioned victims via videoconferencing, adding that they discovered one of the victims lost US$200,000 through the fraud scheme.

[sammyboyfor]

With the internet as pervasive as it is nowadays, you can check the legitimacy of just about anything under the sun in less than 5 minutes.

Nobody can win a lottery that they haven't paid to participate in.

No legitimate lottery ever involves paying thousands as admin fees in order to purportedly win hundreds of thousands. It just doesn't make sense.

Anyone with an iota of brains would ask the most obvious question... "Why can't you deduct the admin fees from the winnings and send me the balance?".

People who fall for such con jobs deserve to be ripped off. Consider it a financial penalty for stupidity.

[demonhunter]

Words of wisdom .

1) A fool and his money will soon be parted

2) There an idiot born into this world every minute

3)

4)

[GoldenChild]

Bye bye 20k.

[SEAJ]

Originally Posted by tarma69

Bros who frequent or station in HK, pls pardon my post here for being ..........................

Has anyone experienced such incident before? Anyone knows what is the telephone number of the Jockey Club whom I can verify? .............insight and info/leads from senior bros will be very much appreciated.

Thanks very much and my sincere apologies again for hijacking this thread.

I think you basically already know that this is just another variation to the old Nigerian scam where the thiefs prey upon the greed of their victims.

But as you need to satisfy old folks, your best bet would be to contact your local Singapore police to investigate and assist you; I'm quite sure that your parents are not the only victim of this scam and even if so, I'm quite certain that the Singapore police would be very familiar with this type of scam

The Hong Kong Jockey club have never gotten involved with any commercial entities for promotion and would never do so. I've only got the membership services phone number on hand, but I am sure that if you explained what has happened, they will put you through to their security division. Phone 852-2966-8345.

Worse come to worse, you can also contact the Hong Kong Police, but the easiest - both in terms of convenience as well as helping to convince your parents that this is nothing more than a con job - would be for you to just contact the Singapore Police

Good luck.

SEAJ

[doctorpeter]

Originally Posted by tarma69

Bros who frequent or station in HK, pls pardon my post here for being unrelated to HK commercial sex but I really need some help.

...

Thanks very much and my sincere apologies again for hijacking this thread.

Bro, I'm a singkie expat in HK. Confirmed no such address in Hk. That doesn't even look like a HK address. Definitely a scam - call the police now and pass them all the details. And hope for the best.

It will be an uphill battle to get your money back. I feel for you and I hope you get it back. Good luck!

[hearnoevil]

i received the same call as well. they called me twice on different occasion saying i won the money so i say wan to donate out but they say need my particular etc. i just tell the lady i don't need the money and you can have it if you wan but all she want was more interaction with me and asking for my particular. i know it a con because it happen to me 2nd time ( i think they nv erase my record and call me again) and they keep pestering for my particular even though i have already show i got no interest at all with the prize money.

they also damn smart they call u first time to invite u down to their "booth" and give you lucky draw number. of cos no body will go down also so i think the booth is fake 1.

But the lady speaking to me seem like Taiwanese. Didnt get to flirt with her because the call wake me up from my sleep. abit angry!!.

It better you inform the police. sorry to tell u it a CON!

[sky_liner2]

Sorry to TS but this is definitely a scam. Your folks lost their 20K hard earned $$$.

[talismann]

Originally Posted by demonhunter

Words of wisdom .

1) A fool and his money will soon be parted

2) There an idiot born into this world every minute ... And you're just in time
3)

4)

Where there are suckers, there are scammers.

[Man of Tiger]

I've received such called before too 3 times. The recent one is last month. I always act blur and wait for them to says what they want after that, I told them why not u guys deduct from my winnings and transferred over to me as I'm unable to go hk.