Here is a number for you. HK$220 million. That is what people in Hong Kong lost in August to scammers pretending to be customer service officers.

SCMP reports that is more than triple the monthly average for the first seven months of the year. So August was a bumper month. For the crooks, I mean.

Let me walk you through why this one keeps working. Someone rings you up. They sound polite. They say they are from customer service. Maybe a shop, maybe a platform, maybe a bank.

Think about how many companies you deal with in a week. Delivery, phone plan, app, online shop. Any one of them could ring you. So when a nice voice says "customer service," your brain does not say "alarm." It says "oh, finally, someone's calling me back."

That is the whole trick. The scammer does not need to be clever. They just need to sound like the person you were hoping would call.

And honestly, who among us has not sat on hold for forty minutes waiting for a real customer service officer? When one calls you first, it feels like a miracle. Real companies should take a note. The fraudsters have better response times than they do.

The scale is the part that gets me. Triple the usual month is a lot of money taken from ordinary people, all hit by the same kind of approach.

So here is the plain advice. If somebody rings you saying they are customer service, hang up. Find the company's number yourself. Call them back on that. It costs you two minutes and a bit of manners.

Tell your mum too. And your uncle. And the friend who still opens every link.