Hong Kong police arrest 8 over HK$6.2 million ‘sugar baby’ dating scam
Fraudsters posed as wealthy clients to extract bogus legal fees from victims, including teachers and healthcare workers, seeking compensated dates
Police said on Monday that they had investigated 80 cases involving scammers who used compensated dating as a pretext to lure victims between February 2024 and July this year. The largest individual loss was around HK$480,000.
The four men and four women, aged between 23 and 57, were arrested last week on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and possession of dangerous drugs, according to the force’s cybersecurity and technology crime bureau.
Chief Inspector Chan Lai-yu of the technology crime division said the scammers advertised compensated dating arrangements on social media, offering victims between HK$50,000 and HK$70,000 a month to become “sugar babies”.
“They required them to sign non-disclosure agreements and added them to a chat group with scammers posing as lawyers and wealthy clients, displaying forged name cards to gain their trust,” she said.
“When discussing the terms of the contract, they asked victims to transfer what they claimed were legal fees, High Court fees and termination fees to different accounts, which would be refunded to them when the contract was over.”