A doctoral student reportedly lost HK$5 million after a caller claiming to represent the Immigration Department drew them into a monitored call and persuaded them to borrow from family, the Hong Kong Police Force said.
The call came in August. The caller alleged that the student’s identity had been stolen to register a phone number and send harassment messages, then told the student to report it. The call was transferred to scammers, who persuaded the student to download Teams, sign a confidentiality undertaking and accept 24-hour monitoring. They used a supposed exchange programme in the United States as a reason to borrow money from family, while screen sharing allowed them to monitor the student.
Police reported 728 related telephone-fraud cases so far in 2026, a 140% rise year on year. Amounts involved in fake-official scams affecting mainland freshmen had reached HK$8 million. Police identified university students as a key target, particularly mainland students in their first year in Hong Kong, and said the scams mainly involved callers posing as officials or customer-service staff.
Police said fake customer-service callers may pose as bank, telecoms or shopping-platform staff, then steer people to WhatsApp or video calls and ask them to share their screens. Transfers may be presented as refunds, identity checks or a way to cancel a service. Fake officials may cite personal or study details, demand secrecy and use video monitoring or purported asset checks to pressure people into transferring money.
Police advised people not to click links in text messages or call back numbers in them. Anyone receiving a call from someone claiming to be a public-security official should hang up immediately.