The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has launched a series of videos warning city residents against “despicable bananas” as the city continues its crackdown on investment fraud and job scams.

The 20-second videos, part of the HKMA’s information campaign against scams, feature a cute banana cartoon character that morphs into a greedy monster or “despicable banana” to remind the public that scammers are sweet and innocent-looking at first before preying on their victims. 

The pronunciation of “banana” in Cantonese is similar to the word for falling for the trap of scammers. 

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The first video in “Click the link, fall for scams” series was posted on HMKA’s official YouTube channel on March 5 and already had over 138,000 views as of March 13. A second video that went online on March 12 had 11,000 views. 

The police said last month that fraud cases jumped by 11.7 percent year-on-year to 44,480 in 2024, accounting for 46.9 percent of all crimes.

Approximately 61.8 percent of these fraud cases were internet-related, including 318 cases involving Chinese mainland students studying in Hong Kong that led to losses exceeding HK$230 million ($29.5 million).

READ MORE: Fraud cases drive HK crime rate increase in 2023

Despite the increase in fraud cases, the police noted that their growth rate has slowed compared to the 40-plus percent surges seen in 2022 and 2023.

The total amount lost to fraud also decreased by HK$30million to HK$9.15 billion last year, signaling that anti-fraud measures were beginning to yield results.