University student Ada Wong* never imagined that she could be swindled out of HK$270,000 (US$34,400) in a matter of days after receiving a WhatsApp message asking if she wanted to earn easy money. She is one of nearly 20,000 victims of online scams in Hong Kong in the first nine months of 2022. But police say “it could have been much worse” had the force not added more officers and technical expertise to obstruct criminals and alert potential victims.
*Name changed at interviewee’s request
