The victims of thefts multiply with the “breath of the devil”: they do not remember what happened and their accounts are empty

A puff of dust on your face, memory loss, then an emptied bank account. Such is the nightmare endured by the regulars of Wan Chai, a district of Hong Kong known for its nightlife, and the most frequented by tourists until the pandemic.

Stuart, a 36-year-old Briton, took several days to remember everything. It wasn’t until talking to another victim that he realized what had happened to him.

As he was chatting with a woman outside a bar, a man approached him, his gaze determined. “I thought he was gonna hit me but he just blew something in my faceStuart remembers.

“I laughed. But that’s all. I don’t remember what happened next“, Relates this Briton who, like the other victims, requested anonymity.

The next day, 80,000 Hong Kong dollars (8,500 euros, 10,200 dollars) had been withdrawn from his bank account.

“It was a joint account with my wife, and we are expecting a baby,” laments the Briton, who has lived in Hong Kong for 18 months. “The police said I was just drunk, but why would they have emptied that account?”

The managers and regulars of the Wan Chai bar have created WhatsApp groups dedicated to this subject. For months they are full of similar stories.

Most of the victims have no recollection of what happened. When they woke up, their accounts were emptied by crooks who, by drugging their victims, easily snatch their secret bank code.

The victims described the attacks as “devil’s breath”. The term designates the scopolamine, a medicine for motion sickness that affects willpower and may cause unconsciousness.

“A huge problem”

Until the pandemic, discreetly placing a drug in a glass was a rare phenomenon in Hong Kong. one of the safest cities in the world. But with codiv-19 the phenomenon has spread.

“It has become a huge problem,” explains the owner of a bar, who does not want to give his name, and who admits that several of his customers have been victims. “Police patrol all night … but they can’t seem to fix the problem“He adds.

As in many countries, crime has been on the rise in Hong Kong since the start of the pandemic, and this former British colony turned international financial center has suffered its worst recession in decades.

Last year, thefts increased by 26%, extortion by 237%, scams by 89% and cybercrime by 55% last year, according to official statistics for the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

According to the police and bar owners, it is often sex workers who drug their victims, sometimes with the help of men.

“The pandemic has been difficult for all of us, especially the girls,” says bar owner Wan Chai.

The three victims interviewed by the AFP, including Stuart, have filed complaints, but all feel they are not to be taken too seriously by the police.

“When I filed a complaint, the policeman sighed and told me he already had 90 similar cases in his office.Remembers James, a 41-year-old British teacher, who saw the 64,000 HKD disappear from his account.

The police admit having recorded an increase in this type of crime since the pandemic, and claims to have stepped up measures to combat this phenomenon.

For their part, the victims remain traumatized, in particular by their loss of memory.

“It just seems incomprehensible to someone how you could have been so obedient”Says Stuart.

(With information from AFP)

KEEP READING: