A Hong Kong woman has lost more than HK$1 million (US$127,636) after being lured into a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme disguised as an artificial intelligence-powered trading app, with police reporting that over 70 similar scams had been recorded in the past week alone, resulting in total losses exceeding HK$50 million. Details released on the police’s CyberDefender…
Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog has warned of a new scam in which fraudsters impersonate an electrical appliance retailer to offer compensation or product replacements, with losses totalling HK$17,000 (US$2,170) in one case. A spokesman for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data said on Thursday that it had received 24 complaints and seven…
A Hong Kong car owner has lost HK$500,000 (US$63,800) to scammers posing as petrol company staff who exploited surging fuel prices by offering bogus top-up deals for membership cards, police have said. The victim received unsolicited WhatsApp messages from fraudsters claiming to represent a fuel company, according to a post on the force’s CyberDefender Facebook…
A Hong Kong court has remanded in custody another 10 people in connection with the HK$1.6 billion (US$205.8 million) in JPEX cryptocurrency scandal, bringing the number prosecuted in the city’s largest alleged financial fraud in recent years to 26. The latest development came nearly three years after the scandal broke out in 2023, when police…
Hong Kong police have charged another 10 people in connection with the HK$1.6 billion (US$205.8 million) JPEX cryptocurrency scandal – the city’s largest alleged financial fraud in recent years. Four men and six women were charged on Thursday after investigations identified abnormal transactions in suspicious accounts linked to the case, police said. The suspects, aged…
Hong Kong police have arrested more than 680 people in a series of recent operations targeting deception and money laundering, with suspected criminal proceeds reaching HK$620 million. In one operation, officers from the cybersecurity and technology crime bureau focused on combating the misuse of bank accounts. Between February and September last year, police received reports…
Hong Kong police have arrested seven members of a fraud syndicate accused of swindling nearly 100 victims out of HK$10 million (US$1.3 million) by luring them into taking out loans under a bogus bankruptcy scheme and then charging hefty handling fees that left them even further out of pocket. The case first surfaced last year…
The operator of Hong Kong’s Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) has tightened its online security by scrapping an electronic verification system after scammers used forged identity cards to open accounts and steal residents’ pensions. Ayesha Macpherson Lau, chairwoman of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority, said in a blog post on Sunday that the authority had…
Nearly a third of scam victims who sought counselling through a Hong Kong welfare group’s crisis hotlines last year had possible suicidal tendencies, according to a study by the organisation. The Caritas Family Crisis Support Centre said on Sunday that its hotline service handled 3,983 debt-related cases in 2025, with more than 31 per cent…
All of Hong Kong’s 28 retail banks, including virtual ones, will offer an anti-scam service from Wednesday that requires extra verification before money can be withdrawn, with 3,200 people depositing HK$1.6 billion during a trial. Hong Kong Monetary Authority deputy chief executive Arthur Yuen Kwok-hang said on Tuesday that around 20 per cent of the…