Over 1,800 arrested in cross-border anti-scam operation, scam losses amount to $225 million: HK police

Photo shows officials holding a press conference on the joint operation of the Cross-border Anti-Scam Collaboration Platform "FRONTIER+". (Photo/HKSAR government)

The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF), in collaboration with the police forces of Macao Special Administrative Region, Malaysia, the Maldives, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand, conducted the first joint cross-border anti-scam operation and arrested in total 1,858 individuals, the HKPF said on Tuesday.

The operation involved 9,268 scam cases, including online shopping scams, telephone fraud, investment scams, rental scams, and employment scams, with a total loss amounting to $225 million, the HKPF said.

A total of 32,607 bank accounts were frozen, and approximately $20 million in fraudulent funds were intercepted, effectively disrupting criminal cash flows.

According to a case revealed by the local media report by HK01.com, one of the victims was a Chief Financial Officer at a multinational company, and the scammer impersonated the company's CEO and used deepfake technology to conduct a video conference with the victim, falsely claiming the company was undergoing a business restructuring.

Unaware of the deception, the victim transferred nearly $500,000 from Singapore to bank accounts in Hong Kong. Thanks to the joint efforts of Singapore's anti-scam authorities and the Hong Kong Police, the entire amount was successfully intercepted, the report said.

The investigation revealed notable similarities in scam trends across different jurisdictions, the HKPF said.

For example, the impersonation of customer service representatives emerged as a widespread scam tactic in Hong Kong in 2024, though the trend began to decline in 2025 following police intervention. However, similar schemes using identical scripts and tactics to defraud local residents started to emerge in Singapore and Macao SAR in 2025, the HKPF noted.

This underscores the urgent need for cross-jurisdictional cooperation and intelligence sharing to combat scam syndicates effectively.

In June 2024, the Hong Kong government officially joined the South East Asia Justice Network (SEAJust) and became one of its members. The network was established in 2020 with the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

It is an informal platform to facilitate cooperation in criminal matters among member jurisdictions, aiming to promote international cooperation and intelligence sharing in the combat against all forms of serious and organized crime.