Police in Hong Kong and Macau have arrested 56 people in a joint operation over an alleged recruitment scam.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, officers said adverts on social media and recruitment platforms offered jobs with high salaries and commission and stated that applicants did not require any qualifications or previous experience.

But recruits were told to make purported online purchases under the pretext of boosting sale figures on shopping websites, and they transferred money to bank accounts controlled by fraudsters, police said.

Forty-six of the arrests were made in Hong Kong and 10 in Macau.

Police said the suspects include three people suspected of finding victims, and others who allowed their bank accounts to be used to collect the money.

Officers said 131 victims from the two SARs were conned out of a total of HK$7 million.

One alleged victim from Hong Kong transferred HK$560,000 to suspected fraudsters in August, receiving HK$31.8 in "commission" for the first few transactions before realising something was wrong.

Superintendent Wong Yick-lung said 2,252 online job scams were reported in Hong Kong between January and September, which is more than triple the 690 cases reported in the same period last year.

Wong said people have been desperate to earn money due to the economic downturn.