A woman suspected of posing as a mainland official in phone scams appeared in Eastern Magistrates' Courts on Friday - facing a charge of conspiracy to defraud and falsely pretending to be a public officer.

The woman, 30, appeared in court after Hong Kong police reported a massive surge recently in crimes involving telephone swindles. In some of these cases, criminals even claimed to be officials from the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong SAR.

The suspect was accused of cheating an 82-year-old woman in Happy Valley out of HK$200,000 last Friday. She was arrested when she allegedly approached the victim again for another HK$300,000.

She was found to possess a fake Independent Commission Against Corruption and police identity cards.

The police suspected she was working for a syndicate as there were other people making the calls. The money was then transferred to the mainland.

The magistrate adjourned the case until Sept 11 as the police said they needed more time to carry out more detailed investigations. The suspect was granted bail set at HK$10,000 but not allowed to leave Hong Kong or go to Happy Valley.

In a separate case on Friday, police arrested a man in Kwai Fong Estate in Kowloon who swindled HK$410,000 from a victim on the phone while pretending to be a mainland police officer.

Last month alone, such phone scams cheated Hong Kong people out of HK$85.4 million, according to police.

A total of 729 cases had been reported in relation to fake-official phone scams in the first 28 days in July, according to the police, whereas the figure for 2014 was only four.

In most cases, Putonghua or Cantonese-speaking fraudsters told victims they had breached mainland laws and needed to pay some money. Victims were told to prove their willingness to cooperate by transferring money to mainland bank accounts.

Some had been directed to bogus government websites where they are shown fake arrest warrants or injunctions containing their photos and other personal details.

Police said a special task force has been set up to work on these cases and enhance the sharing of information with mainland authorities.

Meanwhile, more than 10,000 calls have flooded the liaison office in Hong Kong over the past two weeks as worried residents seek to verify the authenticity of such calls, according to the office.

luisliu@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 08/01/2015 page3)