Hong Kong recorded 68,015 crimes in the first three quarters of 2026, up 2.1% on the same period last year. Secretary for Security Chris Tang said the rise was mainly driven by fraud.
There were 34,679 fraud cases, a 7.9% increase, with reported losses of HK$6.02 billion. Fraud made up nearly half of all reported crime, Tang said.
The overall rise came as most crime categories fell. Violent crime was down 6.9% to 6,109 cases, while robbery and snatch-theft figures reached historic lows, Tang said.
Telephone scams rose sharply in August and September, with about 3,900 cases recorded over the two months; around 80% involved fake customer-service scams. Tang described a method identified by police in which fraudsters posed as logistics companies and directed victims to fake bank websites to enter personal details. They then used a purported approval document or refund to persuade victims to download malware and switch on their phones’ near-field communication (NFC) function. Victims were told to hold a credit card against the back of the phone so its details could be read remotely.
The Anti-Deception Coordination Centre said 6,177 fake customer-service scams had been recorded through September, involving about HK$859 million. Both the number of cases and the amount involved had roughly doubled from the same period a year earlier.
In one case cited by the centre, a 53-year-old woman lost HK$4.46 million in a single transaction after a caller claiming to be customer service for an online shopping site led her to a fake website and online banking. She was directed to register a specified account as a new payee, then enter a purported verification code in the transfer-amount field.