‘Rampant like a pandemic’: why Hongkongers struggle to get peace from junk calls
Thousands of residents affected by a surge in junk calls, with 466,000 reported in 2025 alone
Hongkonger Chan Shuk-wah feels exhausted by the constant ringing of her phone.
On any given weekday, nearly all of the calls lighting up her phone are from unknown numbers – as many as a dozen each day, mostly selling health checks or pushing loan applications.
The relentless calls have disrupted her professional life as a logistics company manager and as the only child of two elderly parents, both approaching 80.
“These cold calls are just rampant, like a pandemic. I’m exhausted because I don’t have the luxury of ignoring unknown numbers,” the 49-year-old said.
“Any one of them could be a legitimate business emergency or someone alerting me to my parents’ situation while I am at work.”
Chan is among the thousands of residents affected by a surge in junk calls, with 466,000 reported in 2025 alone. The figure represents a 50 per cent increase from the previous year and a 93 per cent rise from 2023, according to crowdsourced reporting platform HKJunkCall.