Third bogus financial site found in a week
Police and the securities watchdog have warned investors to be cautious after the discovery of a bogus Bank of China website, the third fake financial site found in a week.
Bank of China (Hong Kong) issued a statement saying it had no connection to the site and urged investors to be cautious.
The Commercial Crime Bureau is investigating the case and last night a spokesman said they had received no reports of losses associated with the bogus site. No arrests had been made.
The website, which could still be accessed last night, has a Shenzhen telephone number and is operated by a company called BOC Mutual Fund Management. It features pictures of tycoon Li Ka-shing and quotes from him, as well as financial news.
The site claims it could open accounts for investors with Bank of China Group's BOCI Securities, at a fee of 100 yuan, to trade via the official BOCI online website. BOCI Group has rejected such claims while the SFC also said the website was not licensed by the commission and could not sell securities for Hong Kong investors.
The bogus site provides links to the websites of two Hong Kong brokerages - First Shanghai Securities and the Tai Fook Securities Company. The SFC said both brokerages had confirmed that the links were unauthorised.
On Monday, police began investigations into a bogus Schroder Investment Management (Hong Kong) Limited site. At least one case of fraud had been linked to the site.
Last Friday, a fake HSBC financial services website was closed by the police and Hong Kong Monetary Authority. No losses have been connected to the site, which was said to have originated in the US.
