Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Members of the Samoa business community and even the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Labor, Leatinu'u Wayne Fong, have fallen prey to scammers suspected of using a special app to imitate voices.

The police are investigating more than 10 such cases and Police Commissioner Auapa'au Logoitino Filipo said people have been duped into giving money to some scammers using a special app to change their voices to sound like business people and politicians.

"This is going way too far. We would like to send out a message to the public to beware of these con artists and scammers because they can get out of their way to get money," Auapa'au said.

"We are still investigating. We have seen an increase in people now lodging complaints at our main office as a result of these scams."

The latest case is a businesswoman at Vailima who was scammed by a person pretending to be "Fong Chan Sau", a well-known businessman.

Brenda Lee-Lo had already complained to the police headquarters on Saturday morning about how she lost $600 to a stranger, thinking that it was a relative of Fong Chan Sau, who happens to be her close friend.

Ms Lee-Lo said on Friday night, a person pretending to be Mr Chan Sau called her and asked to help a family member at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital, Moto'otua.

She said she had fallen for it because it was the actual voice of Fong Chan Sau.

"A man came in front of the hospital and took the money and talked about Fong Chan Sau and thanked me for the assistance," Ms Lee-Lo said.

She found out when she called Mr Chan Sau. She then realized she had been scammed. Mr Chan Sau was shocked to hear about him asking for financial help.

"That's when I knew I was scammed and I went this morning (Saturday) to the police to lodge my complaint," Ms Lee-Lo said.

"I was so amazed at how this person turns his voice into Fong's voice, that's why I fell for this scam."

The Samoa Observer is reporting that a scam victim has confirmed the face and identity of the man who pretended to be Fong Chan Sau. 

Ms Lee-Lo claimed that this was the same man who had scammed people in 2019 during the measles outbreak with the Kangen water scam. 

In a similar scam, the Minister for Works, Transport and Infrastructure was scammed for $7000 as he believed the person on the other end was former Attorney General Aumua Ming Leung Wai. Aumua was also allegedly scammed through a phone call with the voice disguised as Olo's asking for $3000.