More than 40 mainland students studying in Hong Kong fell victim to scammers impersonating Chinese law enforcement officers in the first quarter of this year, police said on Sunday, with the biggest case involving over HK$8 million (US$1.02 million). Among the 42 cases, one victim was tricked into staging her own “abduction” after being lured…
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…
Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority will begin using standard prefixes for telephone numbers to make it easier for people to recognise its calls rather than avoiding them due to scammers and advertisers. Starting next Tuesday, all phone calls made by the authority, which oversees public medical facilities, will display a unified caller ID number beginning with…
Investment scams targeting Hong Kong’s elderly rose by 17 per cent in the first quarter of 2026 against a year ago, despite an overall decline in the number of cases, with police warning that better-educated retirees with more investment experience were more vulnerable to fraudsters. Superintendent Theodora Lee Wai-see of the force’s commercial crime bureau…
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 housewife in Hong Kong has lost nearly HK$2.5 million (US$320,500) in an online shopping scam after she tried to buy collagen drinks for HK$530, according to police. The victim saw a Facebook post advertising collagen drinks and transferred HK$530 via Faster Payment System, police said on their CyberDefender Facebook page. The seller later claimed…
Hong Kong police have arrested 71 people for operating stooge accounts used by scammers, with the largest case involving a senior director at a multinational company who was defrauded of HK$134 million after transferring the funds to criminals impersonating his chief executive. Inspector Tsang Kin-wa of the Hong Kong Island regional technology and financial crime…
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…
Police have issued warnings for a second day in a row about scammers preying on grieving Hongkongers under the guise of donations and relief efforts, with aid pouring in for victims of Wednesday’s deadly inferno at a Tai Po housing estate. Police said in an online post on Sunday that officers had noticed a fraudulent…