‘Evil Corp’ exists: Police Bureau reports billions of dollars lost to online scams and frauds

Online scams and fraud have caused Hong Kong people and businesses to lose $9,270.9 million over the past five years, according to the Police Public Relations Bureau.

The Duty Officer was responding to a BUZZ request for information stimulated by international reports on “Evil Corp”. This sounds like an Ian Fleming creation, but apparently it exists and has been uncovered by investigations by the FBI and Britain’s National Crime Agency. Two Russians, Igor Turashev and Maksim Yakubets, who is said to work for Putin’s intelligence service, have been charged by the US Attorney-General’s office. The pair behind “Evil Corp”, who remain at large in Russia, were alleged to have stolen at least US$100 million using Dridex malware.

In Hong Kong the police bureau said no figures were available on losses due to Dridex and only a small amount had disappeared due to e-banking fraud.

The $9,270 million figure provided by the police covers internet deception cases reported in Hong Kong: examples–online business fraud, email scams, e-banking fraud, social media deception and other frauds. The latest full-year figures show 6354 reported cases in 2018 with losses of $2,610.4 million. In the first half of this year there were 2610 cases with $1,306 million stolen.

The police issued the following warnings and advice:

• Do not casually disclose personal data on the internet
• Do not respond to suspicious requests made by strangers online suich as providing personal data, borrowing money, meeting in private places and sending photos
• Beware of phishing emails and do not open suspicious emails or URLs
• Use a firewall or intrusion detection system and install ant-virus software to safeguard computers
• Adopt privacy protection measures to protect personal data online
• Set passwords for online accounts and change them regularly
• When concerned call Anti-Scam Helpline 18222

Phishing attempts by fraudsters pretending to represent banks are rife. Check the websites of Infosec and the HK Monetary Authority to see almost daily reports of new cases of criminals claiming to be emailing from HSBC, Standard Chartered, DBS, Bank of East Asia or others. “Beware of Fraudsters”, says the HKMA.