Over 80% of people in Hong Kong met a scammer last year

Four in five people in Hong Kong ran into a scam last year, and nearly half dealt with a scammer directly. That is from the 2026 Asia Scam Report: Hong Kong, released Oct. 28 by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA), Whoscall and Mastercard. Whoscall is an anti-scam app made by the company Gogolook.

What the report found

In the report, 81% of respondents encountered a scam in the past year. About 48% interacted with a scammer. Some 21% lost money after an interaction, and 14% handed over personal information. Among parents surveyed, 33% said their underage children had been scammed.

Getting hit once often was not the end. About 63% of scam victims were scammed more than once. Some 27% said they were scammed five times, and another 6% reported more than five.

There is also a gap between confidence and reality. While 76% of adults said they can recognize a scam, nearly half of those exposed still interacted with one.

How scammers reach people

Phone calls (59%) and text messages (52%) were the most common channels. Messaging apps (47%) and email (41%) followed. Since 2025, phone contact was unchanged, texts fell by two percentage points and messaging apps rose by four. Around 80% of scam contact happened on platforms with private messaging.

WhatsApp led individual platforms at 68%. Gmail (32%), Facebook (28%), Instagram (22%) and Telegram (17%) followed. Hong Kong Police reported around 50 cases of WhatsApp account hijacking in the first week of October, with losses near HK$20 million. Many involved cryptocurrency or investment pretexts.

Common scam types

Impersonation was the most common type. Scammers may pose as Hong Kong Police, the Department of Health or mainland law enforcement. They claim a person is tied to a crime and ask for passwords or access to assets. Others pose as banks, phone companies or shopping sites.

• Impersonation: 81% encountered, 17% interacted
• Investment: 78% encountered, 17% interacted
• Shopping: 71% encountered, 16% interacted
• Prize, fake invoice, identity theft and romance scams each reached 61% to 68%

Another 55% saw offers claiming to help recover money lost to a scam. People who have already lost money should be especially wary of these.

How victims paid

Among those who paid a scammer, 43% used a bank transfer. That is above the Asia-wide average of 36%. Mobile payment apps and credit cards each accounted for 25%, and e-wallets for 24%.

What to do

Whoscall advises checking any contact through a separate, trusted channel. That applies even when a message arrives on a familiar app or seems to come from a friend, a business or a public agency. If someone asks for money or passwords, stop and call them on a number you already know.