Phone scams drop in Hong Kong but too early to tell if mandatory real-name registration of SIM cards working, police say
- According to police, 597 phone fraud cases were reported from January to March, compared with 1,144 in the last quarter of 2022
- During first quarter this year, police arrested 220 people suspected of being involved in phone scams

The number of phone scam cases in Hong Kong dropped by nearly 50 per cent in the first three months of this year from the last quarter of 2022, but police said it was too early to conclude if the new mandatory real-name registration of SIM cards could curb the crime.
Police released the latest figures as they pledged to strengthen cooperation with banks to block fraud, including identifying potential victims by reviewing their transaction records.
The force is also considering adopting similar anti-fraud measures to Singapore, where bank representatives worked at the police’s anti-fraud unit. The city state also required companies and institutions to register on an SMS sender registration system.

According to Hong Kong police, the 597 phone fraud cases from January to March involved a total loss of HK$195.1 million (US$24.8 million), compared with HK$355.23 million in the 1,144 cases from October to December last year.
During the first three months of this year, 220 people involved in phone scams were arrested.
The annual number of phone scams jumped to 2,831 last year from 1,140 in 2021 and 1,193 in 2020, police said. Victims lost about HK$1.08 billion in total last year.
Rick Chan Wai-kei, acting senior superintendent of the police’s counterfeit, support and intelligence of the commercial crime bureau, said while the real-name registration of SIM cards in February could help trace callers, it was still too early to ascertain its impact.