STORY:
Woman Conned With Y2K Bug Pills

Hong Kong woman forks out $15,440 to buy stomach pills to cure Y2K bug

A Hong Kong woman who thought the "millennium bug" meant an upset stomach has been conned out of HK$120,000 ($15,440 US) by men who sold her pills to cure it according to news reports.

The 43-year-old woman, who apparently did not know if the millennium bug was a computer problem or a physical ailment, handed over the money for 430 pills after the con men convinced her she could make handsome profits by reselling them.

But after half an hour of hawking the pills outside a betting shop, the 43-year-old, identified only by her surname Chan, became suspicious and called police. Experts later found the pills were for a stomachache. A spokesperson for the local police department said: "It looks like she didn't know what the millennium bug was."

Another Hong Kong woman recently handed over HK$40,000 ($5,150 US) to buy electrical components from three con men, believing they could be resold for astronomical Y2K profits to fix the computer Y2K bug.

DATE: 10/5/99

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