Student lured to Thailand in scam as impersonation fraud losses surge

Police received more than 160 reports of scams in the first quarter, involving fraudsters posing as government officials.

42 cases involved mainland students studying in Hong Kong.

Losses exceed 280 million dollars -- that's more than double the amount recorded the year before.

In one case, a mainland Chinese studentwho had been studying in Hong Kong for three years was forced to stage her own "kidnapping" in Thailand to extort money from her family.

The caller alleged the victim was involved in illegal financial transactions and even wore police uniform in a video call.

The fraudster forced her to sign a confidentiality agreement and imposed round-the-clock monitoring.

She was forced to lie to her parents about pursuing further studies in Thailand and persuaded them to transfer 1 million renminbi.

Later, the victim was even asked to travel to Thailand and send staged photos of her being injured and kidnapped to her family -- to demand another 400 thousand dollars of ransom money.

Hong Kong police later reached out to Thai police and located the victim within 12 hours.