Hong Kong - A 90-year-old Chinese woman lost a gigantic fortune to vicious crooks in a a nasty million-dollar scam.

According to international media reports, an elderly woman in Hong Kong was defrauded of almost $32 million by a phone scam.

Police information cited by the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post revealed that the woman was contacted last summer by a man posing as an official of mainland Chinese police.

She was told that her identity had been used in a serious criminal case across the border in mainland China.

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She was then instructed to transfer her money to certain bank accounts to investigate whether they were the proceeds of illegal activities. A 19-year-old student came to her mansion and gave her a phone, which she then used to speak with the other scammers.

Police arrested the student in connection with the crime late last month, according to the report, but only $1.2 million was recovered. Phone scams are on the rise, with more than $451 million already lost by victims in Hong Kong in 2021 alone.