Fake customer service drives 56% jump in phone scam losses to HK$900 million

Impersonating customer service staff is the “most rampant tactic” used by phone scammers, Hong Kong police have said, revealing the number of such fraud cases rose by 45 per cent to 4,830 in the first half of 2026 compared with a year ago.
Despite the increase, deception cases overall fell slightly between January and June, dropping by 0.7 per cent compared with the same period last year, Superintendent Kwok Ching-yee of the commercial crime bureau said on Friday.
Losses also fell by 0.8 per...