Customer service a major ruse as phone scam losses up 56% in first half of year

Impersonating customer service staff is the “most rampant tactic” used by phone scammers, Hong Kong police have said, with the number of such frauds rising 45 per cent year on year in the first half of 2026 to 4,830 cases amid an overall decline in deception crimes. Superintendent Kwok Ching-yee of the Commercial Crime Bureau said police received a total of 20,613 deception cases in the first half of this year, representing a slight drop of 0.7 per cent compared with the same period last...