Scammers exploit rental platforms in Hong Kong amid rise in investment fraud

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.