'Pump-and-dump' scheme plagues HK

Hong Kong police are struggling to deal with digital pump-and-dump schemes targeting brokerages - a little-known type of computer-generated fraud that surged in the Chinese territory last year.

Although the amount of money involved was relatively small - about $20 million worth of shares - there were 81 such incidents reported last year, more than triple the number in 2015, according to police.

In the scheme, criminals invest in thinly traded penny stocks and then manipulate their share prices by ordering trades from hacked brokerage accounts. They earn profits by selling before the fraudulent trades are reported.