Hong Kong police said on Monday that it had received more than 50 reports of online romance scams over the past two weeks, with total losses exceeding HK$16 million ($2.04 million).

A post on Monday morning on CyberDefender — a police Facebook page that publicizes anti-fraud information — highlighted a case involving a 47-year-old local woman who met a man on WhatsApp claiming to be engaged in investing in gold in the United States.

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After developing an online relationship with the man, the woman was persuaded to transfer her life savings — HK$300,000 — into three personal bank accounts. The scammer further required her to make additional investments.

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Despite warnings from friends that it was a classic “pig-butchering scam” — in which scammers pose as wealthy individuals and build romantic relationships with victims before luring them into making increasingly large investments, ultimately leading to huge losses — the victim borrowed an additional HK$1.6 million, converted it into cryptocurrency stablecoin Tether, and deposited it into a designated e-wallet at the scammer’s request.

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The victim eventually realized she had been defrauded after confiding in her family, but by then, the scammers had disappeared, leaving her with losses of nearly HK$2 million notched up over a period of just two weeks.

The post reminded people to avoid falling victim to online romance scams by insisting on meeting the person they are dealing with, remaining rational and rejecting unrealistic investment tips.

The police’s one-stop scam and pitfall search engine,Scameter, can also be used to assess fraud risks, said the post.

Contact the writer at stacyshi@chinadailyhk.com