The message was serious: failure to apply for a new identity card was a prosecutable offence liable to a fine of up to HK$5,000 on conviction.
So went the official line.
But with the smart ID replacement exercise drawing to a close at the end of the month, officials have revealed that not one person has been prosecuted since the drive started in 2003.
'Up to the present, no people have been prosecuted for failing to replace their identity cards within the specified period,' an Immigration Department spokeswoman said.
Since June 2003, the government has issued 6.6 million smart identity cards. Of those, 4.9 million were issued under the replacement scheme. The rest were issued to people reaching the age of 18 or attaining permanent residency, to children reaching the age of 11, or because of theft or defacement.
According to last year's by-census, Hong Kong's population is 6.86 million.
But the government declined to say how many eligible applicants had failed to apply to replace their old ID cards during the periods designated by the government, thereby possibly exposing themselves to a HK$5,000 fine.