Credit card fraud: Hong Kong to require banks to adopt more safety measures to protect customers from online cheats, scams
- Local lenders must obtain confirmation, consent from clients on certain credit card activities, give customers more control on their spending limits
- The HKMA has received 382 complaints on fraudulent credit card transactions this year through May 31, versus 391 in all of 2022
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) will require the local banking industry to enhance the security of credit card transactions after consumer complaints about online fraud multiplied this year.
Lenders must obtain confirmation from clients on certain credit card activities and consent from their customers on changes affecting their spending limits, deputy CEO Arthur Yuen Kwok-hang said. These are among seven measures to be implemented over the next few months following a consultation with the industry.
For a start, all banks will have to verify with their customers on requests for linking up their mobile phone numbers with various online payment apps such as ApplePay or GooglePay with effect from June 1. Previously, banks only needed to send a text message to notify their customers after such activity had been made.
“We have found an increasing number of complaints on unauthorised transactions in recent years,” Yuen said at a media briefing. “Most of them are related to online payment by credit cards. Banks need to do more to [protect] their customers.”
The HKMA said it received 382 complaints on unauthorised credit card transactions in the first five months this year, compared with 391 in all of last year. That is also more than seven times the 51 cases in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. There were 329 complaints in 2021 and 88 in 2020, according to official data.