Online rental platforms have become scammers’ latest tool for swindling Hong Kong residents, as the number of online investment fraud cases rose by nearly a quarter in the first six months of 2025 compared with the same period last year, with losses surging 36.4 per cent to HK$1.48 billion (US$189.5 million).
Police Senior Superintendent Carmen Leung Oi-lam said that online rental platforms were a new channel that scammers were recently exploiting to establish contact with victims.
“When some property owners put their flats on online rental platforms, scammers will target them, posing as high-income potential tenants,” Leung warned.
The force recorded 2,273 investment scams from January to June, a 24.8 per cent rise from 1,822 cases in the same period last year.
Losses in the first half of the year reached HK$1.48 billion, 36.4 per cent higher than the HK$1.09 billion recorded in the same period in 2024.
The biggest investment scam involved a 65-year-old retiree who lost more than HK$30 million in April after joining a stock investment group on WhatsApp via a Facebook page.
