Mainland students studying in Hong Kong have been urged to be vigilant as more of them are being targeted by phone scammers.

Senior inspector Eddie Lam said there were 39 cases of mainland students falling victim to fake-official ruses in the first quarter of this year, up from 29 cases during the same period last year.

"We discovered that scammers are targeting mainlanders who are studying in Hong Kong. We found that the number of reports by mainland students increased rapidly in April," he said.

Lam said students, especially those from the mainland, should be extra vigilant.

From January to March, phone-scam victims lost a total of HK$789 million, almost four times more than the amount swindled during the same period last year.