Hong Kong is by no means a haven for criminal activity, though it has seen a significant rise in digital crime, phone deception, and romance and investment scams in recent years like many other places. Despite public education campaigns, enhanced institutional security safeguards and crackdowns by local and cross-border law enforcement agencies, victims continue to fall for scams for different reasons. Credit goes to the Hong Kong and Macau police for busting an investment scheme that allegedly conned over 200 people out of more than HK$100 million (US$12.75 million) in total by promoting itself as a pioneer of “kinetic coffee philosophy”. As is typical in such scams, some victims received small returns early on and pumped in more money in the hope of better gains. Monetary losses decreased from about HK$9.2 billion in 2023 to HK$8.1 billion in 2025, a decline of 11.3 per cent.