Hong Kong shoppers lose HK$40 million to online crooks in 2018 – 146 per cent rise on last year

The figures were disclosed on the same day that Hong Kong security minister John Lee Ka-chiu said the overall number of scams reported in the city had also jumped. The figure hit 7,047 in the first 10 months of this year – an increase of almost 20 per cent on the same period in 2017.