Elderly people in Hong Kong main targets as phone scams rise sharply, with victims losing HK$185mil in just five months

One woman borrowed heavily to pay HK$2.4mil to scammers posing as mainland officials. — SCMP

Fraudsters tricked more than 500 people in Hong Kong into parting with HK$185mil (RM102.11mil), keeping telephone scams on a sharply rising trend through the first five months of this year.

There were 532 cases from January to May, up from 207 over the same period last year, while the amount the tricksters made off with was more than triple the losses reported in the same period last year.